Horse Racing: Musket Man can be lucky for Ryan in Cigar Mile
Trainer Derek Ryan did not have a very good racing season this year so far, since he has only one win from the 32 races that were started by his trainees. Nonetheless, the talented horseman has not lost hope and is confident that he can reignite the spark
in his career.
Talking to the correspondents in a somewhat optimistic style, he said, “It was one of those years. It was a good year – it could have been great.”
Ryan recorded this statement from Monmouth Park on Tuesday.
The most agonizing defeat that Ryan had to suffer was the one at Aqueduct in the Grade I Carter Handicap, when one of his most celebrated racehorses Musket Man was held off by Warrior’s Reward by a negligible margin. Three weeks before this meet, one of
his other colts Schoolyard Dreams, was also beaten by a very narrow margin by Odysseus in the Tampa Bay Derby.
On the other hand, the most disappointing loss for Ryan himself was Musket Man’s defeat in the Monmouth Cup. The colt lost this race to Etched as Ryan said, “The Carter and the Tampa Bay Derby, it couldn’t get any worse.”
Nonetheless, Ryan has not given in and will return to Aqueduct this Thanksgiving weekend with Musket Man for the Grade I Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile. The race carries a purse money of $ 250,000 and is being run three weeks after the Breeders’ Cup Classic that
was run at Churchill Downs, in which Musket Man finished in the seventh spot and 10 lengths behind Blame. This was Musket Man’s first meet, out of his 15 career meets in which he finished in a spot worse than the third.
Ryan was reported as saying, “He actually got chopped into pretty good from behind on the first turn, lost his momentum a little bit. He got hit from the top of his hock all the way down. The vet said, ‘You got lucky, if we (allowed) toe grabs you’d be in
a little trouble.’”
Commenting on the performance trend of Musket Man, Ryan said that the racehorse did a satisfying job in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Ryan revealed on Tuesday that Musket Man was able to run through three furlongs in a time of 36.40 seconds in the meet that
was run at Monmouth Park.
It has been observed that the talented racehorse, Musket Man runs comparatively well in the one-turn and two-turn events. After finishing third in the 2009 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, the thoroughbred colt was only able to win the seven furlong
Super Stakes at Tampa. Nevertheless, he impressed his fans by his splendid run in the one-turn mile meet at Belmont, where he was the second place finisher after Quality Road.
Ryan plans to send out the champion colt to the races of the 2011 racing season as five year old racehorse. He also added that he will converging his attention towards Carter and Met Mile, both being one-turn events.
Meanwhile, Musket Man is to carry 117 pounds in the Cigar Mile agains nine other competitors. The field will be filled by Girolamo (120 pounds), Bribon (119 pounds), Haynesfield (120 pounds), Friend or Foe (115 pounds), Jersey Town (114 pounds), Vineyard
Haven (119 pounds), Noble’s Promise (115 pounds) and Soaring Empire (114 pounds).
The Cigar Mile will take place on Saturday, the 27th of November as part of the quality races that will be held in the United States in the holidays of the Thanksgiving weekend. The management of the racing industry is looking forward for these
graded stakes event as they will be featuring the stars of the thoroughbred horse racing in the country.
Tags: