The talented Skyhook (Written Tycoon) was handpicked for a Gr.1 Golden Slipper Stakes tilt, a race where he finished seventh, but Saturday’s victory in the Gr.3 Gunsynd Classic served as a fresh reminder that he is much more than a two-year-old.
The winner of the Gr.3 Pago Pago Stakes and the Listed Rosebud, the colt bounced back into peak form in the Gr.3 Hawkesbury Guineas two starts ago, before running second last start in the Gr.3 Fred Best Classic. Jumping from the outside in Saturday’s mile event, the colt was sent forward to track the leaders and exploded in the final furlong to win by three lengths and a third for Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou.
“I’m not surprised the way he went,” Ryan said. “Tuesday morning at the Gold Coast, he worked sensational. I was thinking, ‘I hope he gets into the Stradbroke’, and when he ran here the other day, I was talking with a few of the owners and we thought we’d accept for the Stradbroke, but this is more our main aim and tick the box at running 1600 metres.
“He’s done super well up here. He came up here on the Thursday before his last run and when he left he was 488 kilos, and last week with a float trip and the racing, he is 498. He’s enjoyed the two and a half weeks up here as much as I have.”
Missing out on a Stradbroke berth was bittersweet, but Ryan has the spring to look forward to now.
“He’ll go out now,” he said. “We’ll aim for something in the spring with him, but we would have liked to get a run in the Stradbroke with the 51 kilos on his back, he’ll never have that again.
“He’s a good horse and he’s still maturing. He’ll be a better horse in the spring.”
A host of lucrative options lie in front of Skyhook now he has proven himself out to the mile, including a tilt at something like the $10 million Golden Eagle.
Sales: Skyhook was a $575,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale purchase for his trainers from the Arrowfield Stud draft, and belongs to a syndicate that includes Matthew Ennis of Stallion Match.
Pedigree: Skyhook is out of Madame Pauline (Redoute’s Choice), a winning half-sister to Anders, as well as Listed winners Ostraka (Pariah) and Caffe Florian (Snitzel) and the stakes performers Battleground (Snitzel) and Satin Love (Snitzel). Their dam Madame Andree is the only daughter of the talented but subfertile War Emblem (USA) in Australia.
Written for TTRAusNZ
