Emaraaty Ana Wins Sprint Cup for Ryan

Once a jump jockey, always a pessimist. Kevin Ryan did not think Emaraaty Ana  had won as they crossed the line—but a minute or two later he was a group 1 winner once again.

And there could be even more to come for a man who has come an awful long way from his less-than-glamorous riding days and has reinvented himself as a trainer to fear at the highest level.

Ryan has churned out group 1 winners aplenty since breaking his duck with Amadeus Wolf in 2005 and had three top-level successes in 2020 alone.

And on Sept. 4 at Haydock Park when Triple Time  served notice that Hambleton Lodge houses a genuine classic hope for 2022, Emaraaty Ana paid tribute to Ryan's ability to coax the best out of a sprinter by giving the yard its second Betfair Sprint Cup (G1) in three years. But only just.

Last month's Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes (G1) runner-up cruised through this furlong-longer test, was going clearly the best with a quarter of a mile to run, and was soon in front.

Yet it was a strong finishing kick that had won favorite Starman  the Darley July Cup (G1), and he threw down a determined challenge which got him within a nostril or two of the leader. 

"When the second horse came to him he found a little bit extra but after the line I wasn't sure I'd won," jockey Andrea Atzeni admitted.

Ryan was sure he had lost.

"I thought he was beat," he said. "You always do, don't you? When he kicked I thought, 'oh (expletive), this is a long way.' It's always a long last furlong. But the horse took him into the race so easily. I knew he'd idle, he'd just prick his ears but the result is the result.

"He was a great 2-year-old. He lost his way a little bit but Sheikh Mohammed Obaid has been very patient. That's the type of owner he is, he'll wait all day long.

"We were riding him wrong. We were using his speed early in a race and we started dropping him in. He ran a great race in the Nunthorpe and he was beaten by a very good horse."

Ryan may have 16 years of group 1 winners to look back on but he was unstinting in his praise of the newest member of the club.

"He's as good a horse as I've trained," he said. "His work in the morning is brilliant."

And Ryan is itching to have another crack at the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T), which he won with Glass Slippers  last year. 

"I think he's the right horse for America," he said. "He can travel and fast ground won't worry him. I have to talk to Sheikh Mohammed Obaid but I think he's tailor-made for the Breeders' Cup this year."

Ryan admitted that top-level wins are what it is all about and said: "When you've had one, you need another, that's what we base everything on now, trying to have the good horses, trying to compete at that level.

"It's hard to do. A lot of trainers are trying to do it and I'm thankful I can drop in there somewhere along the line."

Triple Time looks a colt who can compete in the highest grade and earned a 33-1 quote for the QIPCO Two Thousand Guineas (G1) from Paddy Power after a ready, front-running win in the listed 2-year-old race, the Betfair Exchange Ascendant Stakes.

Ryan did not attempt to hide his enthusiasm for the 2-year-old and said: "We thought he was very special in the spring. He's taken a bit of time and he's taken racing to learn the job—physically he was there but mentally he took racing.

"I was very worried about the ground but Sheikh Mohammed Obaid is not afraid of getting beaten and he said, 'Let's find out now.' And he's handled it. It's very fast ground and he'd won on very soft—it's a sign of a good horse that he could adjust.

"We'll have to discuss it but he's done everything he needed to this year and identified himself as a very talented horse. He's going to be very exciting for next year. Ten furlongs is probably as far as he wants to go and we think of him as a Guineas horse.

"He has loads of speed and he's a long-striding horse, that's why Andrea let him go to the front."

Ed Walker will regroup with Starman after his short-head Sprint Cup defeat.

"I'm disappointed but there are no excuses," the trainer said.