Nick Ryan savours most important success with Winter Championship final from other side of fence
Nick Ryan always had special hands as an apprentice, so it’s probably understandable that he been able to resurrect the fortunes of Sircconi as a trainer and register his most important success.
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Former champion apprentice Nick Ryan notched his most important success as a trainer when Sircconi trounced a field of accomplished rivals to win the Listed Winter Championship final (1600m) at Flemington.
The fourth trainer to handle the gelding, Ryan coaxed the first win out of the five-year-old since his victory for John Sadler at Caulfield in October 2018 after streaking to a four-length triumph over Polly Grey and Victoria Star.
“We’ve been dying to back (up) this horse and things haven’t gone right here and there,” Ryan said.
“But we got him here in terrific order and Id just like to thank my staff who have done a terrific job, Daniel Stackhouse a terrific ride.
“The back-up worked. A dominant win. It was a lovely ride. He handed up and had the run of the race just behind them. On the back up, hard fit, terrific effort.”
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Second last week at Caulfield behind Mirimar, Sircconi travelled to headquarters the subject of soaring stable confidence.
“I thought he was a top three hope. I was very confident that I brought him here in really good order,” Ryan said.
“For him to come out and do that it’s great to see.
“He’s flying so there’s another mile handicap here in a couple of weeks but I’ll let him tell me tomorrow morning. I’m tipping that he’ll go home and eat up. See what happens.”
Ryan’s previous biggest success was with country cups winner Mahamadeis.
“That is my first stakes winner. To win like that, that was massive,” Ryan said.
Jockey Daniel Stackhouse said Ryan’s conditioning was critical.
“I knew I was on the fittest horse,” Stackhouse said.
“Nick has done a great job backing him up from the 2000 metres back to the mile. I knew I was on the fittest horse and I got on my bike to get going. Then the race was over.”
MORE RACING
HORSE TRAINER’S LIMBO CONTINUES AS CHARGES STACK UP
PAYNE: VICTORIA DERBY GOAL FOR CHERRY TORTONI
The Victoria Derby is a possible target for Cherry Tortoni after the gelding maintained his unbeaten record with a fighting win the Listed Taj Rossi series final (1400m).
A relative of champion Tie The Knot, Cherry Tortoni ($2.50) shouldered 61kg to victory, conceding up to 5kg to rivals before denying Alcyone ($5) by a short-head with Johnny Get Angry ($81) third.
In the throes of a tremendous season, trainer Patrick Payne said: “Extremely pleased with the horse. He’s a lovely horse to deal with. So are the owners, the Taits. When Sandy Tait sent him to me, he said this is one of the nicest horses I’ve sent down.
“He could be a Derby horse, I’ll be guided by him. I’m not sure how good he’d be against the smarter three-year-olds over 1200 or 1400m so I’ll give him a short break and look to an early spring mile race. He gave weight to the second horse so I think that might’ve been a difference towards the line finish but he went really well. He’s a big horse so I can’t go too easy with him; he’ll just have a short break.”
Jockey Billy Egan was predictably taken with Cherry Tortoni’s effort: “It was an impressive win today. I thought it was an even race and everything got their chance. I noticed that, when I went for him, I really had to stick into him today to get past them.
But perhaps the happiest man after the race was dual AFL premiership coach Dennis Pagan. The North melbourne legend has rarely been more delighted in finishing third than after Johnny Get Angry ran third. Saddling a runner for the first time, Pagan watched the gelding flash home.
“Can’t beat good luck, can you? He was terrific,” Pagan beamed. “Just got held up for a while but when he got out, terrific. Really gives us a positive outlook for the future.
“First runner as a trainer and coming third, it’s exciting. Just like playing my first game of footy.”
PAGAN ‘LIKE PLAYING MY FIRST GAME OF FOOTY”
Accustomed to winning, Denis Pagan has rarely been more delighted in finishing third than after Johnny Get Angry ran third for the dual AFL premiership coach at his training debut.
Saddling a runner for the first time, Pagan watched the gelding chase home Cherry Tortoni and Alcyone.
“Can’t beat good luck, can you? He was terrific,” Pagan beamed.
“Just got held up for a while but when he got out, terrific. Really gives us a positive outlook for the future. There’s a race here in a fortnight time over 1800m.
“First runner as a trainer and coming third, it’s exciting. Just like playing my first game of footy. “Terrific feeling. He was very good, Lachie (King), I was really pleased with him.”
LORD ANSWERS PRAYERS FOR CONNECTIONS
Craig Williams captured the emotion around injury-prone Lord Von Costa’s triumphant return to Flemington, four years after he had won the Creswick Stakes at the same course.
“I read a bit of his back story leading into today’s race and it means there’ll be a lot of excitement and a lot of tears shed,” Williams said.
“There’s a lot of hard work that goes into him and this horse would be like a family member.
“It’s similar to a lot of people in the racing fraternity — they love their horses. He’ll be no exception.
“He spent a lot of time in hospital and rehab and they’ve done a great job. He’s out doing what he loves to do — competing and winning.”
Trained by Donna Scott at Albury, Lord Von Costa now has three Flemington wins.
MUSIC TO WILLIAMS’S EARS
Williams virtually sealed the metropolitan jockey’s premiership with a double aboard Music Bay.
Extending his lead to Damien Oliver to 10 wins with six meetings left, Williams ended Music Bay’s long losing streak.
Troubled by hoof problems, Music Bay finished her career in style by notching Phillip Stokes’ 100th win of the season.
Music Bay, a Group 2-winning daughter of Choisir, will head to the broodmare sales at the end of this campaign.
TAB BIG BETS
RACE ONE
All the big money was with Sense Of Honour in the AAMI Next Generation Sprinters Final (1200m).
The Mick Price & Michael Kent Jnr-trained runner was six times as popular as anything else and commanded 61 per cent of the total investment.
Leading throughout for Ben Melham, the filly beat Savannah Cloud ($10-$4.80) which was the best tried runner outside the favourite and more than halved its quote on the day. Standoff ($11) filled the minor end of the prize.
BETS: Sense Of Honour $6,000 @ $2.30, $3,000 @ $2.30, $2,292 @ $2.30, $2,000 @ $2.30 MULTIPLE TIMES
BETS: Ilovethegame $1,000 @ $10
BETS: Savannah Cloud $1,200 x $1,500 e/w @ $4.80/$1.55
RACE TWO
Favourite backers were cheering after Ben Melham landed an early double after being successful on Lord Belvedere in the Lexus Banjo Paterson Series Final (2600m).
TAB customers rallied to the son of Archipenko and supported him from $3.20 in the morning into $2.80 at the jump. Such was the amount of money riding on Lord Belvedere that he overtook Chapada ($2.50-$3) for favouritism.
Chasing the runaway pair of Sasko ($6.50) and Alfarris ($8), Melham timed his challenge perfectly to arrive right on the line to nail Alfarris in an exciting finish. Sasko battled on for third.
Lord Belvedere went around with just under half the money.
BETS: Lord Belvedere $2,000 @ $3.10, $1,000 @ $3.10 TWICE, $1,400 @ $2.90, $1,000 @ $2.80
BETS: Chapada $1,000 @ $3, $1,000 @ $2.90
RACE THREE
Punters were on top once again at Flemington with the heavily tried Cherry Tortoni remaining unbeaten after the Kennedy Taj Rossi Series Final (1600m).
Going around as a popular $2.30 favourite, Cherry Tortoni held 67 per cent of the market and was five times as popular as anything else in the race.
Coming with a big run, Billy Egan had to get everything out of the Patrick Payne runner to get past second favourite Alcyone ($5.50) while Johnny Get Angry ($126) running a cracking race for third.
BETS: Cherry Tortoni $2,250 @ $2.40, $4,000 @ $2.30, $2,560 @ $2.30, $2,000 @ $2.30, $1,000 @ $2.30, $13,200 @ $2.25, $2,000 @ $2.25 MULTIPLE TIMES
BETS: Super Yulong $1,000 e/w @ $13/$3.20
BETS: Alcyone $1,000 @ $5.50 MULTIPLE TIMES
BETS: Burleigh Boy $4,000 @ $9.50
BETS: Narvaez $1,100 @ $10
RACE FOUR
Persan delivered a big blow to TAB when taking out the G.H. Mumm Mahogany Challenge Final (2500m).
Going around as a heavily tried odds-on fav, Persan ($1.85) attracted all the big bets and was a popular choice for punters through multis.
Enjoying a good run just off the speed and trailing second favourite Sign Seal Deliver ($4), Persan raced clear under Jye McNeil after issuing a strong challenge early in the straight.
Zoffmira ($17-$12) found the line nicely for third.
BETS: Persan $2,995 @ $1.95, $2,650 @ $1.90, $2,000 @ $1.90, $4,000 @ $1.85
BETS: Sign Seal Deliver $2,000 @ $4, $1,000 @ $3.90 TWICE
RACE FIVE
A late move for Lord Von Costa paid off in the Furphy All Victorian Sprint Series Final (1200m).
Going $11-$8 in the final stages of betting, Lord Von Costa finished powerfully for Craig Williams and trainer Donna Scott to beat the well-tried Great Again ($7-$5.50) with Malibu Style ($13) filling the minor end of the prize.
Rich Charm ($5.50-$4.40) was easily the most popular runner here and held three times as much as Great Again and I Am Someone ($5.50).
BETS: Lord Von Costa $1,000 @ $9, $2,000 @ $8, $1,000 @ $8
BETS: I Am Someone $2,400 @ $5, $1,300 x $1,500 e/w @ $5/$1.95, $1,000 @ $5 TWICE
BETS: Hi Stranger $1,000 @ $10
BETS: Rich Charm $1,000 @ $5, $1,500 @ $4.60 TWICE, $1,000 @ $4.60, $1,000 @ $4.40
RACE SIX
Music Bay gave Craig Williams a running double after powering away with the Jim Beam Leilani Series Final (1400m).
Going around as an $11 chance, Music Bay had to sit outside the leader Honey Esprit and do all the work. Hitting the front midway down the running, Music Bay raced clear for trainer Phillip Stokes to score impressively over La Tigeresa ($4.20-$3) with Soaring Eagle ($41) third. Great Duchess ($7-$5.50-$6.50) had her share of support too and was fourth.
Overall, La Tigeresa was one of the best backed runners all day and held around 45 per cent of the total investment in this.
BETS: Great Duchess $1,000 @ $6
BETS: La Tigeresa $2,000 @ $3.10, $2,000 @ $3, $1,600 @ $3, $1,000 @ $3 MULTIPLE TIMES
RACE SEVEN
The Lindsay Park operation of Hayes, Hayes & Dabernig were to the fore in the TAB Silver Bowl Series Final (1600m).
Walking Flying, an $11 chance when markets opened on Wednesday, had her share of admirers throughout the afternoon here and hovered around the $7.50-$8 mark for most of the day.
Jumping an $8 chance, Walking Flying sprinted sharply once clear to race up to the well fancied Grinzinger Allee ($8-$5) which was the subject of a strong betting move here.
Of the others, Smoke Bomb ($6.50) carried some big bets as did Garimpeiro ($10-$7.50-$8).
BETS: Grinzinger Allee $1,000 @ $5.50 TWICE, $1,000 e/w @ $5.50/$2.10
BETS: Smoke Bomb $1,000 @ $6
RACE EIGHT
Sircconi was the subject of a handy move in the Seppelt Wines VRC-CRV Winter Championship Series Final (1600m).
The Nick Ryan-trained galloper hit as much as $13 at one stage in the afternoon before good support saw it come into $10.
Powering away after doing a stack of work in the run, Sircconi blitzed the field in relegating Polly Grey ($41) and Victoria Star ($8.50) to the minor end of the prize. Plein Ciel ($4.20-$4.60) went around as the most popular horse in the race while there was good money for Heptagon ($5) also.
RACE NINE
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