Gerald Ryan not convinced dominant Canonbury Stakes winner Blitzburg is a Golden Slipper horse

Gerald Ryan made a surprise Golden Slipper admission after Blitzburg’s runaway win in the Group 3 Canonbury Stakes at Rosehill.

Blitzburg leads all the way to win the Canonbury Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

Blitzburg ran his rivals ragged at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday – but master two-year-old trainer Gerald Ryan has a word of warning about his colt’s Golden Slipper chances.

“I don’t think he’s a Slipper horse, I think he is a rung below,’’ Ryan said after the colt’s all-the-way win in the Group 3 $250,000 Canonbury Stakes (1100m).

“But it is the Golden Slipper, he is only two once, so we will see how he ends up.

“The Black Opal might be his go but we will just pick our races with him and if he is flying at Slipper time we might go there.’’

Blitzburg ($4.80), ridden by Tyler Schiller, was simply too fast for his rivals and scored comfortably by 1¼ lengths from the fast-finishing Hillier ($18) with Peleus ($15) also running on strongly for third, a half-length further back.

Godolphin colt Burma Star ($2.50 favourite) had the run of the race but could make any impression on the leader before eventually fading to run fourth.

Chris Waller’s colts Fermoy ($7) and Tropic ($3.80) disappointed to finish at the rear of the field.

A great front-running ride sees Blitzburg run away with the Canonbury Stakes! @[e-mail]/lfWKXME3q5

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) February 1, 2025

Schiller said Blitzburg showed real determination to win the Canonbury and hopes the colt is given his chance in the $5m Golden Slipper at Rosehill Gardens on March 22.

“Blitzburg jumped sharp today, he got to dictate and I think that was the main thing,’’ Schiller said.

“He doesn’t really like horses getting past him, I thought he was very aggressive when he got challenged and he attacked the line awesome.

“He did everything right with the winkers on, he travelled really well, but then when I asked him to quicken he was quite sharp. He’s definitely got to have a chance, he’s a lightly raced two-year-old and he’s just won a Group 3.”

TAB price assessors slashed Blitzburg’s odds from $101 to $34 for the Golden Slipper.

Since 2000, the Canonbury Stakes has proven a reliable guide to the Golden Slipper with Vancouver (2015) and Sebring (2008) completing the double while Shinzo (2023) ran third in the first leg then trained on to win the world’s richest two-year-old race.

Ryan, who trains in partnership with Sterling Alexiou, said Blitzburg compares favourably with Best Of Bordeaux, who ran second to Fireburn in the 2022 Golden Slipper.

“The horse Blitzburg does remind me of is Best Of Bordeaux,’’ Ryan said.

“He’s not very big, he has got a lot of Snitzel about him and he has good speed.’’

Tyler Schiller says Blitzburg has earned his chance at the Golden Slipper. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

Ryan said Blitzburg has been a different horse since returning from a disrupted Magic Millions campaign in Queensland.

“When he was in Queensland, he was a bit light, he had a cough and I just wasn’t happy with him up there,’’ Ryan said.

“He was second emergency (Magic Millions) I was hoping he wouldn’t get a run. When he didn’t, I had him treated for his cough.

“So, we couldn’t run on the Friday night (seven day rule) as I had treated him on the (previous) Saturday morning.

“The stewards let me scratch him and he has not missed a beat since he’s been back at home.

“I thought this might be his race. I’ve been telling everyone for days he would run ‘huge’.’’

Ryan, who trained Snitzel and has prepared many of the super sire’s progeny, said he experimented with blinkers on Blitzburg before deciding to use winkers.

“Today is the first day I have put them on,’’ Ryan said.

“I have worked him in blinkers and after he worked Tuesday morning, I thought he was just a touch keen so I took them off and put the winkers on him, and it has worked out well.’’

Trainers Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald took a lot of encouragement from the debut runs of Hillier and Peleus fill the minor placings.

“They both ran very well,’’ Archibald said.

“We were hopeful but it was their first start so you are never really sure how they would go but both ran very good races.’’