Talented sprinter Rubick will return to the stable of trainer Gerald Ryan on Friday to begin preparations for his 2015 Sydney Autumn Carnival.
Rubick will likely return to racing in the 2015 Challenge Stakes. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Rubick was restricted to just two race starts during the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival due to a fever and he was sent to the spelling paddock after he finished a disappointing 12th in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on November 1.
Ryan revealed last month that Rubick would be set for races like the Group 1 The Galaxy (1100m) and Group 1 T.J. Smith Stakes (1200m) this preparation and the veteran trainer told Sky Racing HQ that the son of Encosta De Lago would race exclusively in Sydney in the autumn.
“He comes back Friday,” Ryan said.
“He is a good horse and he spelled really well.
“Looking at him yesterday I would say that he has grown and he looks really well.
“He will race solely in Sydney in the autumn and I reckon he looks really good.”
Another talented three-year-old that is set to return to the Ryan stable on Friday is Washington Heights, who has performed well without winning in his three race starts to date.
Washington Heights was found with a bone chip in one of his joints after finishing sixth in the Group 3 Ming Dynasty Quality (1400m) at Royal Randwick on September 6 and underwent an operation, but Ryan believes that the Commands colt has recovered well and look in excellent shape following his stint in the spelling paddock.
“He starts back up on Friday,” Ryan said.
“He is a big horse now, he has grown and developed into a big horse, and at his last start he had a bit of a chip in one of his joints, so we flicked that out.
“Hopefully all things stay sound with him now and he is a very promising horse that could go all the way.
“What he has done early on he has just done on natural ability, but I think now he is a much stronger horse and a bigger and better horse.”
Races like the Group 1 Royal Randwick Guineas (1600m) in March loom as possible targets for Washington Heights, but Ryan is unsure whether the three-year-old will ready for a Group 1 event that early in the Sydney Autumn Carnival and could instead be saved for a 2015 Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival campaign.
“They just might come around a bit quick for him because he had three months off after the operation,” Ryan said of races like the Royal Randwick Guineas.
“There will be something during the carnival for him and he might even head to Queensland.
“We will look after him this time and hopefully he can come back and be capable of winning those mile races next spring.”
Ryan is chasing his first win at the highest level of racing since retired mare Snitzerland took out the Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington earlier this year.
