Ironstein has been a consistent performer for trainer Gerald Ryan
Gerald Ryan has had a pretty good time of it up in Brisbane this year and he’s making a bit of a habit of finding success towards the back end of the carnival.
He produced a marvellous training effort last week to get Adnocon to victory in the Listed Eye Liner Stakes at Ipswich.
It was a back-to-back victory in the event for the horse but Ryan got him there a very different way.
Adnocon was first up for the season and many questioned if he would be fit enough, but Ryan said he would win and that’s exactly what he did.
The trainer will have a good chance at winning at black type level again this weekend when he heads back to Eagle Farm for Tattersall’s Tiara Day.
It’s a program he’s very familiar with and last year when it was known as the Winter Stakes he saddled up Melito in the main event.
She was victorious in the race and it handed Ryan a very happy end to his carnival.
This year he doesn’t have a starter in the major Group 1 but he does have four horses across the eight race card.
Headlining the team is his consistent stayer Ironstein which will contest the Group 3 Tattersall’s Cup over 2200m.
Apart from his first run in 2011 Ironstein hasn’t run a bad race.
He’s always somewhere around the money and two starts back in the WJ Mckell Cup at Rosehill he broke through to get his first win of the prep.
His career record shows 26 starts for six wins and eight placings but what you don’t see is the amount of fourths and fifths he’s ran when not in the top three.
He’s the type of stayer every trainer would love to have and in the Tattersall’s Cup he’s well and truly in the mix.
Last start he ran in the Brisbane Cup and battled home in fourth once again and Ryan is happy with where the horse is at.
“He has done really well since the (Brisbane) Cup and I’m happy going into Saturday,” Ryan said.
“Brenton Avdulla will ride.”
It will be his first ever start on the horse taking over from Tim Clark.
Ryan has also confirmed that Ironstein will not be backing up to defend his 2010 Caloundra Cup title this year, instead choosing to keep him fresh for a new assault on the Cup’s circuit down south.
“He won’t go to the Caloundra Cup again,” Ryan said.
“We’ll give him a short break after Saturday and aim him at the Wyong and Newcastle Cups and the Metropolitan.”
The Wyong and Newcastle Gold Cups both run in September, while the $400,000 Group 1 The Metropolitan (2400m) is one of the early Sydney Spring Carnival features held at Royal Randwick on October 1 – Epsom Handicap Day.
Ironstein is one of 15 early entries for this year’s Tattersall’s Cup along with the likes of last Saturday’s Ipswich Cup runner-up Danagaze, Bryan Guy’s Premier’s Cup winner Shuffle The Cash and the Michael Moroney-trained Viking Hero.
