Young Ironstein's formula

By Brent Zerafa From: The Daily Telegraph

IRONSTEIN'S rise to prominence is not likely to stop at his next target, the Grafton Cup, with trainer Gerald Ryan unveiling plans to keep his emerging stayer firing deep in to the spring.
With the dust barely settled on his emphatic Caloundra Cup victory, his third win on the trot and first stakes triumph, Ryan expressed a desire to target the Group One Metropolitan Hcp (2400m), run over 2400m at Royal Randwick in early October.

"Early on back in January, I was discussing his program with Duncan Grimley [John Singleton's racing manager] and I said we should go to the Ipswich and Caloundra Cups, he tossed up the idea of Caloundra and Grafton and I thought it was a bloody good idea," he said. "There was still a chance he could have gone to Ipswich but I decided he wasn't ready so we kept him at Rosehill instead.

"If he draws a barrier [at Grafton] he is going to be very competitive, he can race up on the speed and gives a good kick at the end of his races."

Following the $150,000 Grafton Cup (2350m), run on July 15, Ironstein will be given a short break before being thrown in to the deep end.

"We haven't got a lot of time to back off, I can just freshen him up a little bit," Ryan said. "We will probably go to the Wyong Cup, the Newcastle Cup, which would be good because all his owners are from around Newcastle, and then the Metropolitan and then give him a decent break.

"He is a horse that you don't have to grind to get him fit, he is pretty athletic, he keeps himself up to the mark, you could go six or seven weeks between runs and he would still go good.

"After his win on Saturday, he came home back to the stables and he was straight in to his feed. He only had rubbish at the bottom of his feed when I got back there yesterday morning. He has not taking any harm from the runs, he is a tough bugger."

Talented apprentice Blake Spriggs had steered Ironstein to consecutive victories at Rosehill before being replaced by Michael Cahill at the Sunshine Coast last Saturday.

"Michael rode him a treat [on Saturday], I asked him if he would be available for Grafton and he said he would travel anywhere for this horse," Ryan said.

"Obviously he was quite impressed with the horse's performance."