Irish jumps jockey Tom Ryan upstaged local champion Steve Pateman when he completed The Australian Steeplechase-The Australian Hurdle double aboard the Robert Smerdon-trained Kirribilli Gold.
Earlier he guided the Bill and Symon Wilde-trained Megapixel to an all-the-way win in the Steeple.
Kirribilli Gold had been ridden by Pateman to win a maiden hurdle by 10 lengths at Warrnambool at her only previous jumps start while Megapixel was ridden by Pateman at his previous two outings.
With Pateman riding the Smerdon-trained Fareer ($4.20) into fourth place in the Steeple and the Ciaron Maher-trained Palmero ($3.40 fav) into sixth in the Hurdle, Ryan was only too happy to pick up the mounts on the two eventual winners.
The 27-year-old was virtually unknown when he landed his first Australian win aboard 50-1 shot Man Of Class in last year’s Grand National Steeple at Sandown, narrowly beating Pateman’s mount Kerdem.
He had ridden more than 100 winners in Ireland and England, his biggest win being at the 2006 Cheltenham Jumping Festival.
Ryan, who has been in Australia for 18 months, also won this year’s Brierly Steeple at Warrnambool aboard Fareer, beating Pateman’s mount Megapixel.
Pateman’s mount Palmero made a costly mistake at a jump at the back of the track when he all but fell.
He picked himself up and regained the lead but the effort took its toll and he was under pressure on the home turn.
“I’ll have to buy Steve some drinks. He’s not too happy at the moment,” a jovial Ryan said.
“She’s as tough as nails this mare.”
Kirribilli Gold, backed from $4.40 to $3.80, settled fourth and Ryan saved ground on the grey on the home turn, taking her through to the lead on the inside.
She dashed clear in the straight to score by 2-1/2 lengths from Seeking The Silver ($26) with Tuscan Fire ($5) 2-1/4 lengths away third.
“This is the race we set her for. We knew she was a good jumper but to do that today she’s proven she’s pretty good,” Smerdon’s head foreman Liam Howley said.
“If you look at her flat form, it took her a long time to get to where she did but this is no surprise to us and I think we are going to see the best of her over the next couple of years.”
The win was the middle pin of a treble at the meeting for Smerdon who is currently on a three-week European holiday and will attend Sunday’s French Derby meeting in Paris.
His other two winners were Wealthy Lad ($12) and Westsouthwest ($12).
AAP
