Cover image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
With a select hand of yearling purchases and some very exciting 3-year-olds resuming this Saturday, the Rosehill Gardens-based partnership of Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou are ready to spring into the new season.
“I thought it was a satisfactory year,” Alexiou is modest about their performance over the last 12 months. “I thought we were a bit quiet with our four and 5-year-olds, but I thought our 2-year-olds performed really well, and the vast majority of those seem to have come back and improved into their 3-year-old season.”
The stable finished the 2024/25 season with 48 wins and just shy of $5 million in prizemoney, with an array of standout juveniles sweeping through the autumn. Alexiou has his eyes set firmly on the spring now, with hopes to clinch his first G1 Golden Rose Stakes with his name on the training ticket.
Skyhook and King Of Pop coming up roses
Two of the stable’s juvenile stars from last season are set to clash in the Golden Rose later in the spring, and will butt heads beforehand in the G2 Run To The Rose; Group 3-winning colts Skyhook (Written Tycoon) and King Of Pop (Farnan) will both pursue a Group 1 that could secure them a spot at stud.
Skyhook was third on debut in the $160,000 Pierro Plate and came with a head of dethroning the (at that point) unbeaten Rivellino (Too Darn Hot {GB}) in the G2 Skyline Stakes before breaking his maiden in the G3 Pago Pago Stakes. Since returning to work, the son of Written Tycoon - whose main owner is Matthew Ennis’s Stallion Match - has pleased his trainers.
Sterling Alexiou | Image courtesy of Ryan & Alexiou Racing
“He’ll line up on Saturday in the Rosebud,” Alexiou said. “I can’t imagine he will go there and do anything but run good. Ideally, he’ll be winning and then he’s got a month to the Run To The Rose, then onto the Golden Rose.”
“Ideally, he’ll (Skyhook) be winning (the Rosebud) and then he’s got a month to the Run To The Rose, then onto the Golden Rose.” - Sterling Alexiou
The Run To The Rose is set to take place on September 13, with the Golden Rose following a fortnight later on September 27. Gerald Ryan guided Trapeze Artist to Golden Rose glory in 2017, and Alexiou hopes there's another winner amongst their cadre of 3-year-olds colts this spring.
“He’s (Skyhook) a promising horse. As you know, with 2-year-olds, they still have to come back and line up against other horses that come back and probably improved in the same way that we think he has. But he's a nice horse, and he's always shown quite a bit, so hopefully he can deliver.”
Skyhook | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
King Of Pop, winner of the G3 Black Opal Stakes in the autumn and second in the G3 Kindergarten Stakes to close out his juvenile season, will trial on Friday at Rosehill Gardens instead.
“He’ll go to the San Domenico first up,” said Alexiou. In The Congo, whose first yearlings hit the sales ring next year, won the G3 San Domenico Stakes en route to his Rose victory, running second in both the Listed Rosebud and the Run To The Rose along the way.
“Then, at this stage, they’ll both clash in the Run To The Rose. How he (King Of Pop) performs in the Run To The Rose will probably determine whether we push out to the 1400 metres of the Golden Rose with him or we keep him back for a Danehill or a Coolmore in Melbourne.
King Of Pop | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
"He's still yet to be tested beyond 1200 metres, but that's not to say that he won't run it. I’d say at this stage that he’s more of a 1200-metre horse than a 1400 or 1600-metre horse, but I think until you get them there, it can be hard to assess.”
“He's (King Of Pop) still yet to be tested beyond 1200 metres, but that's not to say that he won't run it.” - Sterling Alexiou
Grand Eagle (Farnan), a dual winner who finished off his autumn with victory in a Randwick juvenile handicap, could join them in the Rose if he can raise his benchmark.
“He’ll trial Friday at Rosehill as well, and then he’ll probably kick off in a midweek race and aim to find a back door into the Golden Rose,” Alexiou said.
“You won’t see him in a San Domenico or the Run To The Rose at this stage, he will probably go to the Ming Dynasty coming off the back of that midweek run. If he wants to guarantee himself a start in some of those better races, we need to work on getting those benchmark points.”
Blitzburg’s head of the class
G3 Canonbury Stakes winner Blitzburg (Snitzel) missed out on a Queensland tilt due to having a fetlock chip removed in the autumn, but Alexiou confirmed he is back and raring to go for the spring. The colt has impressed his trainers in two solid trials back, most recently flying home to win in a 900-metre heat at Rosehill at the end of July.
Blitzburg | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
“He’ll line up in the Rosebud with Skyhook,” Alexiou said. “He’ll take a bit of beating there, and he'll probably push onto the San Domenico or maybe something down in Melbourne. He's been very well prepared for Saturday with two solid trials and a good grounding in terms of fitness. He probably goes there in better order than Skyhook, but Skyhook has likely got a longer preparation ahead of him.”
“He's (Blitzburg) been very well prepared for Saturday with two solid trials and a good grounding in terms of fitness.” - Sterling Alexiou
Alexiou highlighted a couple of other triallers for Friday who are set for good springs, including Trapeze Artist fillies Dream Side and Pleasure Queen, both of whom belong to Vieira Racing.
“She a won midweek at Kensington and she seems to come back quite well,” Alexiou said of Pleasure Queen. “It’s a bit up in the air where she resumes, but I think she'll be in for a good preparation.
Pleasure Queen | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
“Dream Side ran second on debut and then second to Memo in the Magic Night Stakes. She’ll trial, and then we will determine where she kicks off. She’s still a maiden so it might be the case of pencilling in a nice maiden plate for her and hopefully, once we get her underway, we will get her into some of the better races this spring.”
“It might be the case of pencilling in a nice maiden plate for her (Dream Side) and hopefully we will get her into some of the better races this spring.” - Sterling Alexiou
Sequista (D’Argento) burst onto the scene with a third in the R. Listed Inglis Nursery in December and ran a close up fourth in the G2 Percy Sykes Stakes in the autumn, but not much has gone right for the filly since. Alexiou shared that she will not be seen until late in the spring.
“We didn’t have much luck with her this last preparation, so we have tipped her out for a good break,” he said.
Old guard resets after missing Missile Stakes
While the excitement is mostly around the new juveniles and 3-year-olds coming back into the stable, the Ryan and Alexiou time still have a good hand of older horses with big goals this spring.
The 5-year-old General Salute (Russian Revolution) was set to line up last Saturday in the G2 Missile Stakes at the washed out Randwick meeting; having missed both the run and the black-type target, with Racing NSW deciding not to reschedule the Missile Stakes, he’s now in need of a fresh kick-off point for his spring. He was the head of the betting for Saturday, with fellow Russian Revolution son Brudenell trailing him in third.
General Salute | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
“He’s a horse we think can work through the grades,” Alexiou said. “He was in an ideal race on Saturday with the Missile Stakes. Unfortunately, they scrapped that race so we're resetting for the Show County and then he'll probably push onto the Theo Marks, and that will determine how deep he gets into the spring.”
“He’s (General Salute) a horse we think can work through the grades.” - Sterling Alexiou
Just Party (Justify {USA}), who was second in the G3 Hawkesbury Guineas by a nose back in May, has just returned to work, and the 4-year-old will align himself for big local goals later in the spring.
“Races like The Hunter or The Gong, those sorts of races will probably be where he is headed this spring,” Alexiou said.
Ryan and Alexiou’s other older star last season was the ever-consistent Grebeni (Ocean Park {NZ}); the 6-year-old gelding had a very light spring last year after racing into June, but has loftier goals in mind this year, having earned a spot in the $3 million Big Dance when running second in the $150,000 Muswellbrook Cup.
Grebeni | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
“He will resume in a 1500-metre race in two weeks time,” Alexiou said. “Then he’s on a path to the Cameron (Handicap), then onto the Big Dance.”
The G3 $250,000 Cameron Handicap is slated for September 19 at Newcastle.
Small but select pack of new juveniles
Ryan and Alexiou bought a smaller contingent at the yearling sales this season, with their names on the docket for just five yearlings, all of whom are colts - including a full brother to Blitzburg, for whom they paid $900,000 for at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale where he was presented by Arrowfield Stud.
“He’s just come in for his first spin around Rosehill and he just went back out to the paddock yesterday,” Alexiou said. “He’s not too dissimilar to his brother, quite forward and pretty professional, but he’s probably a bit taller and has a bit more depth to him than Blitzburg.
Snitzel x Sierra (Jpn) colt | Image courtesy of Inglis
“Blitzburg has gone out there and won a Group race as a juvenile, so his brother has a bit to live up to.”
“He’s (Snitzel x Sierra '23) not too dissimilar to his brother (Blitzburg), quite forward and pretty professional.” - Sterling Alexiou
The freshly turned 2-year-old is the third foal out of Orfevre (Jpn) mare Sierra (Jpn), a daughter of Group 1-winning American mare Golden Doc A (USA) (Unusual Heat {USA}), herself a full sister to globetrotting Group 1-winning sire Unusual Suspect (USA). Blitzburg has been her first runner, and was secured by Ryan and Alexiou last year for $500,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale - Alexiou is hopeful they can get a repeat performance this season.
Another promising juvenile that was sent to the paddock on Monday was a Wootton Bassett (GB) filly out of Sacredvista (Fastnet Rock), a full sister to West Australian stallion Long Leaf, that was purchased by David Norris for $300,000 out of Bhima Thoroughbreds’ Gold Coast draft. The Magic Millions is where the bulk of the stable’s yearling purchases came this season.
Wootton Bassett (GB) x Sacredvista filly | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“We have a nice Palace Pier that we bought at Magic Millions,” Alexiou said, referring to the Palace Pier (GB) colt out of Listed Adelaide Guineas winner So We Are (So You Think {NZ}), who cost $425,000 when sold by Mill Park Stud.
“He was quite an impressive individual, and he seems to be coming along quite well. He has a lot of characteristics that we like to see in nice, early 2-year-olds.”
With the first juvenile trials just a month away, there’s plenty to look forward to.
