Kevin Ryan: Horses to follow | Triple Time, Juan Elcano and more ahead of 2022 season
We caught up with Kevin Ryan at his North Yorkshire yard to talk about some of his star horses to follow this season.
BOONIE
He started the season well and won nicely at Nottingham and the next step is to go to York this week and the Dante Meeting. He’s come out of his last race well and will have improved a fair bit for it, he’s quite a stuffy sort of horse.
We’re looking forward to running him. He was a good two-year-old and ran well in some big races. We’ve given him an entry in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot. He has to improve for that but we hold him in high regard, so we’ll see.
JUAN ELCANO
He’s great. He ran well in the Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown and we thought about going to York but his main aim is the Wolferton at Royal Ascot, a race he won last year, so we’re heading there. Sheikh Mohammed Obaid will be over for that meeting, and it was great to have a winner there for him last year. He’s a great supporter for the yard. It’s great to have winners for any owner but that was special.
EMARAATY ANA
We took him to Dubai and he just didn’t perform at all. He disappointed on his first run at Meydan and I put that down to it being his first run of the year but he disappointed again on World Cup night.
We’re on a recovery mission and he runs in the Duke Of York this week. I’m hoping it was a case that he didn’t acclimatise to it over there and we go to York looking to get back on track, run a good race, and be involved in the business end of the race. If that goes well it will be back to Royal Ascot with him.
DARK MOON RISING
He won at Chelmsford and it was a nice pot to pick up. He then went to Newcastle in a very slowly-run race. It turned into a bit of a sprint and that wasn’t his true showing. He’s in the Dante and I’ve always felt he’s a mile-and-a-quarter horse so he’ll take his chance. He needs to improve a fair bit but hopefully the extra distance will help.
TRIPLE TIME
We were nicely on track for the QIPCO 2000 Guineas and took him down for a gallop there at the Craven Meeting and he picked up a little injury which is going to hold us for a month. He’s a very, very talented horse and we’re not going to rush back, we’ll take our time.
There will be plenty of the season left for him and we’ll have some nice targets as he’s a proper horse. He’s terribly talented, he was as a two-year-old and was still quite a raw horse last year. His last run o the year at Haydock was a great one, beating Hafit and I know he’s well thought of.
BIELSA
He’s come back in very well. He ran some good races last year without getting his head in front and chose a great day to put that right in the Ayr Gold Cup. He’ll run in all the big sprint handicaps again this year, they’re very competitive, you need a lot of things to go your way including the draw at some of these tracks, but I’m sure one of the big ones will drop his way again.
HALA HALA ATHMANI
She’s a huge, big filly and a half-sister to Hello Youmzain who was very big himself. She always showed a lot of talent at two despite being a bit weak. She only had a couple of starts but ran well and has come back in much stronger.
We’re looking forward to getting her started soon. We had to mind her until the backend of last year and only ever intended to run her twice knowing she’d progress physically at three. I wouldn’t rule out trying her over seven furlongs but we’ll start out at six and see how she goes in her races and how she relaxes. That will tell us.