Giant Ryan surprises the field of 8 as he pulled together a front running win in the Vosburgh Invitational
Trained by Bisnath Parboo for owner Shivananda Parbhoo, 5-year-old gelding Giant Ryan ran his winning streak to six straight in the Grade 1, $350,000 Vosburgh Invitational at Belmont Park on 1 October, 2011, when he downed Force Freeze by half a length.
The son of Freud, out of Kheyrah by Dayjur, Giant Ryan pulled a 12 to 1 upset in the muddy Belmont Park feature over a distance of 6 furlongs.
The Vosburgh Invitational is part of the Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” race, and the victory earned Giant Ryan an automatic berth in the Grade 1 Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and the older sprinter will be heading to Churchill Downs on 5 November.
Giant Ryan had run over a distance of 6 furlongs consistently in his last 5 starts before the Vosburgh and nailed them all, and was coming off a win in the Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap at Calder racecourse on 9 July, 2011.
In the Vosburgh Invitational, the 2010 winner of the race, Big Drama and initially the nine horse field was reduced by one, as Giant Ryan broke from post number 5 under jockey Cornelio Velasquez.
It was a sharp break from the pair, and jumped into the lead right from the get go. The challengers Euroears, Apriority and Calibrachoa all were a victim of a bad break and this aided Giant Ryan’s quick getaway in the early part of the race.
The chain reaction started from Calibrachoa, as he moved on the inside which caused Apriority to stumble right in the path of Euroears which disrupted his break.
Meanwhile, Force Freeze and Giant Ryan pulled away, as Giant Ryan set brisk fractions of 22.10 seconds for the opening quarter mile and 44.36 seconds for the half time.
The 7/1 favourite, Force Freeze, was right there on Giant Ryan’s tail, tracking the leader drifting to the outside just 1 ½ lengths adrift.
Force Freeze entering the stretch threw in a mild challenge but it was not enough to challenge the determined Giant Ryan as he comfortable hit the wire in 1 minute and 9.10 seconds.
The 5-year-old bay horse, has now improved to 8 wins out of his 14 starts altogether, with finishing second and third once in his career with earnings of $626,841.
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