“Back Gerald Ryan fresh” is advice that stands the test of time. The equine expertise of Ryan getting a horse in full flight early in a campaign was matched by South Sydney spirit last weekend.
The tenacity of the Mighty Rabbits goes back even further. Still in short pants, I walked from Kensington to Redfern Oval. Yes, Clive Churchill was a magnet, but subsequently they have provided more highs than lows with the pinnacle again opposed to the Bulldogs last Thursday. The odds were against them but courage abounded.
Chilly Girl was more raw ability, tuned to an edge by trainers. Having her second start but like so many benefitting from the Ryan guile she had the power and condition to down the promising three-year-old competition.
The filly is by Trapeze Artist, prepared by him, who scored at his introduction and her grandsire, Snitzel, who became a top stallion, also dominated fresh under the Ryan touch.
Early education, get out and go, plays a role with Ryan youngsters and with Tim Clark in the saddle Chilly Girl made full use of it.
Last week it was a team effort. By comparison, the Swans, with a star lineup, beat Essendon, the wooden spooners — but Sydney did not produce the same satisfaction, the kind David Fifita created last week in his first season with the red and greens.
Fifita featured with never-say-die ferocity while the 50 plus red-blooded tackles of Cameron Murray were as GOOD as anything seen at Redfern Oval and that encompasses Chic Cowie who played with Churchill and Ron Coote, so classic and superb in cover defence.
And Matt Dufty was bold and strong. I’d rather have the more agile Jai Gray at full-back. Maybe it’s the Churchill influence but diminutive gets me more than big, fancied by Wayne Bennett, a major supporter of Latrell Mitchell in the position.
Bennett is one of the great Rugby League coaches and I’m just a mug who benefitted watching the “Little Master” at Redfern Oval.
Obviously Chilly Girl was the Rosehill highlight, but the protest involving the bump by Transit to Mind Ya Buzz in the Petaluma and the present form – touch and timing that makes the great but can be askew – of James McDonald, the world’s best jockeys?
Transit is trained by Michael Freedman who had the misfortune of being denied a protest result that still erupts bile with Ninja on the Gold Coast early in the year.
Having backed Transit, the “winner,” I will not offer an opinion on Saturday other than there were grounds to uphold the objection and it was a half head result.
J-Mac, though, was also under the microscope regarding favourites on Saturday.
Sure, he notched two: Steel Wool ($1.65) and Concordia Wind, backed into $3.60 but not the shortest odds on Friday.
J-Mac was beaten on Valador ($4.40), Glissando ($3.60), Hawker Hall ($2.05), and Tarzing ($2.90), first picks in the market that followed five of his downed Canterbury favourites the previous Wednesday.
Other well fancied Rosehill mounts Beside The Ocean ($5.50), and Central Europe ($5.50) never looked likely.
I don’t think J-Mac rode BAD at either program. But the point arises: is he in the top sphere at present like Clark, a double, and Zac Lloyd (three winners) last Saturday that deserved a bigger audience?
Weatherwise it was dank and UGLY. Apart from The Rosebud, the program was uninspiring. But it did have Chris Waller’s Magnificent Seven, topliners, headed by Autumn Glow and Autumn Boy, who promise to be major players in the spring. Only exhibition gallops, perhaps, but always a pleasure to see in action.
