Twenty Years at the Top Table for Kevin Ryan, with Inisherin Back for More

[Wandering Eyes]

“Has it really been that long?” queries Kevin Ryan after being informed of an anniversary looming on the horizon, that of it being two decades since Amadeus Wolf (GB) won the Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket.

“I didn't think it was that long ago,” he adds, rubbing his face in apparent disbelief, elbows perched on the kitchen counter of his Hambleton home. “Twenty years–that has soon gone by.”

That Middle Park in September 2005 was a significant milestone in Ryan's career, as it was the day he joined the ranks of Group 1-winning trainers, some seven years after he sent out his first winner at Catterick in July 1998. A second Group 1 win then followed just three short weeks later when Palace Episode struck in the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster, while that 2005 campaign was also notable for it being the first time that Ryan broke through the £1-million barrier in prize-money.

Now, all of these years later, that sort of haul is par for the course for Ryan and his team. Out of the last 20 seasons on British soil, between that breakthrough year in 2005 and when Ryan achieved a new best total of £1,821,254 in 2024, only three have failed to deliver a seven-figure return–in 2008, 2010 and the Covid-hit campaign of 2020.

Equally, Hambleton Lodge is now a regular source of Group 1 winners, admittedly after a seven-year wait between numbers three and four, a drought which was ended by Astaire (Ire) (Intense Focus) when he also won the Middle Park in 2013. Then along came The Grey Gatsby (Ire), the Prix du Jockey Club and Irish Champion Stakes hero who provided the stable with some of its best days with those triumphs at Chantilly and Leopardstown in 2014.

“He was a great horse,” Ryan remembers of the popular grey who also won the G2 Dante Stakes at York. “He never had a vet near him bar to do the insurance or give him a flu jab–he was bell-metal sound.”

As for the current incumbents of his Thirsk yard, Ryan needn't look too far to be reminded further of the passage of time, with the first foal out of Glass Slippers (GB) (Dream Ahead), the stable's most prolific winner at the top level, featuring among this year's two-year-old intake.

“It tells you that you're getting f****** old, when you trained the dam and now you're training the progeny,” Ryan jokes, before providing a positive update on the Dubawi (Ire) colt whose dam won the 2019 Prix de l'Abbaye, as well as the Flying Five Stakes and Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint the following year.

“He's a grand type of horse,” Ryan goes on. “He was presented at the sales as a yearling but he wasn't ready for a sale. He was just a bit backwards. I saw him at the sale and then when he arrived he looked a different horse to what I saw at Newmarket. He looks a different horse again now–he's really starting to develop and grow.

“He moves great, although we haven't pressed any buttons with him yet. She [Glass Slippers] wasn't precocious–it was the second half of the season before she really started to show her true metal. We'll just let him come to himself and then we'll get him out as and when.”

For now, until others prove themselves worthy, pride of place in the class of 2025 most definitely belongs to Inisherin (GB), who provided Ryan with a 16th Group 1 success when landing last year's Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot. Though down the field on his final three-year-old appearance in the G1 Sprint Cup at Haydock in September, the strapping son of Shamardal clearly remains the apple of his trainer's eye.

“He's had a nice long break and he wintered very well,” says Ryan. “He's bigger and stronger and we're looking forward to getting him going again. He'll get an entry in the Duke Of York Stakes [May 14]. He'll have a Group 1 penalty to carry, but it's a good starting point and there's a nice gap between York and Royal Ascot. It's easy to place where he'll be going, although there's a possibility that we could go up to seven furlongs. They've upgraded that race at York [City Of York Stakes] now to make it a Group 1, so never say never. And you've got the Prix Maurice de Gheest over six and a half–he's got loads of options.”

 

Inisherin is the real deal and lands the Commonwealth Cup at Royal @Ascot! pic.twitter.com/K685XUvt4f

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 21, 2024

 

Inisherin has already shown that he's capable over a bit further, having finished sixth, beaten less than five lengths, in last year's 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, after beating none other than Kalpana (GB) (Study Of Man {Ire}) by three and a half lengths when winning his novice over a mile at Newcastle a couple of months earlier.

“He had a lot thrown at him in a short space of time last year,” Ryan says of why Inisherin might have lost his way in the second half of 2024. “He'd won a maiden and been to a Guineas early in the season. He ran very well in the Guineas and, in fairness, he ran well in the July Cup [when finishing fifth behind Mill Stream]. He just didn't seem to come down the hill, which was quite surprising because he ran well on the other track. And then it was very tacky ground at Haydock which I don't think he really liked. Physically, he was great and we're delighted with the way he's come back in.”

Here's hoping we see the Royal Ascot version of Inisherin in 2025, with the form of the Commonwealth Cup looking even better now than it did at the time, after the runner-up, Lake Forest (GB) (No Nay Never), travelled down under to win the A$10-million Golden Eagle and the fourth-place finisher, Kind Of Blue (GB) (Blue Point {Ire}), ended the season with victory in the Champions Sprint Stakes.

“It's all there,” Ryan adds. “And it was easy watching that day–from two down you could see that he wasn't going to be beaten. I think, with Ascot, most of the pressure is on the run up to it and getting them there in peak condition. There's not much more you can do when you're there, but you're still nervous. You're bound to be nervous when everyone is expecting him to win–I was expecting it as well which puts even more pressure on you.

“He's as quick a horse as we've had. He has a huge stride on him, with a high cruising speed and a great turn of foot–he's always had loads of gears. A lot of these horses are retired early, but I think it's great for people who follow the sport to get to see them again. He didn't even have to think about it, Sheikh Mohammed Obaid. He said straight away at Royal Ascot that both the horses would stay in training, him and Rosallion (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}). He loves his racing and he's in no rush to send them to stud.”

Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum has been a big supporter of the Ryan yard ever since his 2018 purchase of Emaraaty Ana (GB) (Shamardal), after he'd won the G2 Gimcrack Stakes at York when owned by Ahmad Abdulla Al Shaikh. Emaraaty Ana would later win the 2021 Sprint Cup, becoming the first of four individual Group 1 winners Ryan has trained in the famous yellow and black-spotted silks. The others include another Royal Ascot winner in Queen Anne hero Triple Time (Ire), a three-parts brother to Inisherin's dual Group 1-winning dam, Ajman Princess (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}).

“You could get anything out of them,” Ryan says of the annual batch of homebreds he receives from Sheikh Obaid. “You could get a very fast horse or you could get a really good staying horse–his breeding programme covers all angles. He breeds a lot of very good horses and he lets us buy as well. It's nice to have that kind of backing at the sales.”

One such purchase for Sheikh Obaid was the four-year-old Volterra (Ire) (Farhh {GB}), who occupies the neighbouring box to Inisherin in the L-shaped block of stables which are overlooked by the kitchen window of the Ryan family home. Previous inhabitants include other sprinting stars such as Brando (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) and Hello Youmzain (Fr).

Volterra, who was bought for 400,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, still has some way to go to earn his place in that illustrious company, but his trainer is optimistic that the 103-rated colt might prove equal to the task after a stylish victory in the Challenge Cup at Ascot on his final start of last season.

“He's a very, very talented horse, always has been,” says Ryan. “He was a very weak two-year-old, and he still wasn't very mature last year, but he was still able to perform at a high level in those big handicaps. He destroyed the field at Ascot.

“We always thought he was going to be top class. The way he looks now and the way he's strengthened, I think he's one who can really come into his own this year. I wasn't keen to throw him into a Group race straight away, but that might have to be the case because of the way the programme is. He'll be testing the waters and, hopefully, he can make up into a Group 1 horse–that's what we think he is.”

 

What a performance! It's Challenge Cup glory for Volterra under Shane Gray! @Ascot pic.twitter.com/4nUNZ7s00O

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 5, 2024

 

For Ryan, like any trainer, that search for the next Group 1 horse is what the job's all about, an endeavour in which he is ably assisted by the bloodstock agents Steve and Becky Hillen.

“We all have our own ideas, myself, Steve and Becky,” Ryan says of his approach to the sales. “Everyone has an opinion and at the end of the day I'm the one who has to make the last call on it. If I can't buy the ones I want, I'd prefer to come away with less horses rather than forgiving this, that and the other with them.

“There's always been a certain type of horse I like. The pedigree has to be reasonable, although I'll sometimes forgive a pedigree if there's a really nice individual. Especially with the breeze-up horses, you can be a lot more forgiving because they're at a completely different stage than they are as yearlings. You're seeing them six or seven months later.

“We might gather up some more [two-year-olds] at the breeze-up sales [this year]. We always have done. Astaire, Brando, The Grey Gatsby, Amadeus Wolf and Palace Episode–they were all breeze-up horses, to name just a few. It has been very good to us over the years. Mind you, they're getting harder to buy. A horse like The Grey Gatsby cost €120,000 and he'd probably be a £200,000 horse now–that's the difference in it.

“But I want to race at a good level,” he adds of the pursuit of another The Grey Gatsby. “We've been very lucky and we've had a Group 1 horse in the yard near enough every year. It's incredible to think that we haven't really had a lull with them–I hope I'm not putting the mockers on it now! We've one, maybe a couple, for this year as well, but it's all about trying to find the next one as the back up for when they're gone.”

 

Ryan on…

Ain't Nobody (Ire) (Sands Of Mali {Fr})
Successful in the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot, he was last seen finishing a running-on sixth in the G2 Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster.
“I'm looking forward to stepping him up to six furlongs. He did it well at Ascot, but then he grew quite a bit. His last run told us that he wanted six, so he'll probably start off in the Commonwealth Cup Trial. I'm not saying he's a Commonwealth Cup horse. He's a fair bit to make up to be that, but it seems an obvious place to start off his rating and that will give us an idea of what level he's going to play at this year.”

Room Service (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire})
This colt is rated 109 after ending last season with victory in the Listed Wentworth Stakes at Doncaster.
“His form was very good at Donny. It was hard enough not to put him in there again this Saturday, but it took him a bit of time to get rolling last year. There's a seven-furlong conditions race at Thirsk [April 12]. We'll start there and he'll have the option then of sticking to seven or dropping back. But I'm sure that he's going to stay seven well. It was only in the last half-furlong that he got on top at Donny–even two down I didn't think he was going to win. He could be a horse for the Buckingham Palace at Royal Ascot.”

Washington Heights (GB) (Washington DC {Ire})
Second on his return to action in the Dukhan Sprint in Qatar last month, he was a fixture in the top European sprints last season following his victory in the G3 Abernant Stakes at Newmarket.
“He's a great syndicate horse. He takes them to all of the right meetings and he's very, very genuine. He will have an entry in the Duke Of York [in which he finished fourth in 2024]. Before then he has the option of going back for the Abernant again or he could switch to the Palace House over five furlongs at the Guineas meeting. Simon Turner [racing manager for owners Hambleton Racing] will have his own ideas and we'll discuss it closer to the time.”

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