Bargain buys deliver for Ryan

There’s no doubting the passion of Ballarat harness racing trainer Ricky Ryan – and over the past month he’s been rewarded with a pair of well-earned victories from two bargain-buy trotting mares.

“I suppose I’m a bit in front with them because I only paid $1500 for one and the other was given to us for nothing,” Ryan said.

Seven-year-old bay mare Metro Swish (Wishing Stone) kicked things off with a tough win at Geelong Harness Racing Club on March 13, before stablemate Onawingandaprayer (Pegasus Spur) proved too strong at Ballarat last Thursday (April 30).

But it’s the story behind Metro Swish that underlines Ryan’s patience and horsemanship.

The horse appeared at the trials for Robbie Morris at Penrith back in February 2021- but it wasn’t until four years and eight months later, under the care of Ryan, that she made her race debut.

“It took a bit to get her back into some sort of race condition. I just pottered around with her until I thought she was going well enough to go to the races,” he said.

“If they don’t run the times at home, I move them on.”

Metro Swish justified Ryan’s faith with a game second at Ararat in October last year at her first race start.

She followed that with four placings before breaking through for her maiden success at Geelong, driven by freelance reinsman Neil McCallum. She has since continued the consistent run of form, adding another placing from her past three outings.

Ryan’s other recent winner, Onawingandaprayer, came into the stable almost by chance.

“I went to look at another horse and got told about her.  I paid $1500 for her and I reckon she has another win in her yet,” he said.

Onawingandaprayer came out safely from the wide six gate at Ballarat to land briefly in the death-seat before reinsman Jordan Leedham dropped on the back of the leader Jungle Spider.  He shifted out on the home corner and the mare lifted late to score nicely by a metre. It was her first win since March, 2023.

Ryan initially got interested in horses as a youngster when living at Ouyen in the far north-west of Victoria.

“Trevor Monk is a trainer now at Bendigo, but he was a teacher at my school and he taught me how to harness up. I catch up with him now and again at the races,” Ryan said.

“Later on, I worked for Vinnie Knight and Noel Alexander, so I’ve had some good horsemen to help me learn this caper.”

Ryan has established a training setup on 17 acres near Ballarat, complete with a 710-metre track and walker.

Over the years he’s been associated with a number of handy performers including Crompton Bay, Indigo Dancer and Fightnfury.

“Crompton Bay had seven wins and I think five of these were in a row, while Indigo Dancer won six before breaking down badly,” he said.

“I also liked a horse Showemyourmuscles that I won first up with at Shepparton back in 2020.”

Ryan said he stepped away from the sport for a good few years to go truck driving.

“I earnt good money and now I’ve been enjoying doing just the horses for the past three or four years. Later this season we plan to get four, including Onawingandaprayer, in foal, and we purchased a Poster Boy yearling at the Nutrien sales.”

From Terry Gange for Harnesslink