Trainer Gerald Ryan has ruled out a start in Saturday’s Group 1 $1m Epsom Handicap (1600m) at Randwick for Golden Rose winner Trapeze Artist.
Trapeze Artist, above, will skip the Epsom Handicap and head to the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington. Photo by Steve Hart.
Trapeze Artist ran away from his rivals in the Group 1 $1m De Bortoli Wines Golden Rose (1400m) at Rosehill last Saturday to record a four and a quarter lengths win over the Bjorn Baker trained Champagne Cuddles with the Ryan trained stablemate and favourite Menari finishing third.
Ryan said immediately after the Golden Rose that there was a chance that Trapeze Artist could back up this week in the Epsom Handicap with only 48kg but changed his tune on Sunday and will now set the Snitzel colt for the Group 1 $500,000 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) down the Flemington straight on November 4.
“Trapeze Artist won’t go to the Epsom or the Caulfield Guineas,’’ Ryan told The Daily Telegraph.
“He will go back to sprints and have one more run, probably in the Roman Consul Stakes, before he races in the Coolmore.’’
Trapeze Artist was sent out as one of the outsiders of the Golden Rose field at $41 after coming off a fourth in the Group 2 $200,000 Kari Stan Fox Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill on September 9 while Menari was the hot favourite at $2.40 after a dominant win in the Group 2 $200,000 The Run To The Rose (1200m) at Rosehill on the same day.
Menari lost a near fore plate in the Golden Rose and was also galloped on on its off hind leg but Ryan expects the Snitzel colt to line up against Trapeze Artist again in the Coolmore Stud Stakes.
“The plan for Menari is to give him one more run in the spring and that will be the Coolmore Stud Stakes — I think he will make a great straight-track horse,’’ Ryan said.
The Pat Webster trained Happy Clapper heads the betting for the Epsom Handicap at $4.60 at Ladbrokes.com.au just ahead of Chris Waller’s dual Oaks winner Egg Tart at $5.50.
Waller provides the next four horses in the betting with Comin’ Through at $9, Tom Melbourne at $10, Foxplay at $11 and McCreery at $15.
