Connections of Galaxy Warrior have their fingers crossed their gelding will be okay after it pulled while winning at Wellington on Thursday afternoon.
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Experienced jockey Greg Ryan said he felt something wasn’t quite right as he passed the post and when he went to pull the six-year-old up after the $20,000 Simmo’s Signs Open Handicap, he noticed Galaxy Warrior was lame.
“We’re not sure yet,” Ryan said, when asked the seriousness of the injury. Trainer Gayna Williams phoned the owners after the race to tell them of the injury but
“About 10 metres from the winning post he put in the wrong stride and whether he strained a ligament there I don’t know. He’ll be checked out.
“When I pulled him up he felt very lame and as soon as he got far enough I hopped off him. I hope it’s nothing serious. He’s a grand old galloper.”
Galaxy Warrior ($3.10 equal favourite) has just produced an outstanding effort to finish a length clear of Troy O’Neile’s Try ‘N’ Run A Muck ($3.10 equal fav), with Terry Croft’s No Escape ($6) a neck further back in third.
Ryan was delighted by the run of the Bon Hoffa x Orchard Glory progeny who started from barrier eight and had plenty of work to do in the closing stages of the 1400 metre-race.
He dropped towards the back of the field out of the barrier and sat four lengths off the lead for most of the back straight and the bend.
Try ‘N’ Run A Muck set the early pace, along with No Escape and Alliterate ($4.80).
However as they rounded into the front straight, Ryan swung Galaxy Warrior wide and used his speed to run them down.
Ryan paid tribute to the horse’s determination.
“He had 61 [kilograms] on his back and I probably covered a bit of extra ground on him,” the jockey said.
“He doesn’t get around this [final] corner very well. It’s a track that doesn’t suit him that well but despite the big weight and the extra ground he was still able to win.
“He was the best horse in the field there. Even with everything against him his class shone through.”
Williams and Ryan also combined for a win with Press Review in the opening race of the day, the Ray Boden Painting Maiden Handicap over 1400 metres.
The three-year-old filly started as $1.60 favourite and was able to come from behind and take a comfortable win, from $101 long shot Snappy Diamond, trained by Michael Plummer.
“That horse [Press Review] had an eye-catching run at Dubbo and she’s been back nearly last in her previous starts,” Ryan said.
“This time she got away a bit better and the tempo was a bit different too. They went away fast and she was able to come home ahead of tiring horses.”
