Record breaker set for return

5-year-old gelding Deploy returns to Royal Randwick this Saturday after a record-breaking run in the Group 3 Show County Quality recording a 1:08.06, the fastest time ever over the 1200m journey at the track.

The Gerald Ryan galloper went on to shatter the 1300m Rosehill Gardens track record, shattering his opposition in the process with a mammoth 4L victory over group 1 winner Egg Tart in the Theo Marks Stakes.

Deploy will start his prep lining up as the second-top weight in the Group 3 Southern Cross Stakes, searching for his 4th victory in 6 starts at the track. Trainer Gerald Ryan chose to bypass the 1400m Apollo Stakes, opting for the 1200m trip instead.

“I put him in the Apollo to see what it might look like but he’ll run in the 1200 metre race,” Ryan said.

Deploy’s most recent run was a 9th placing in The Everest, sitting midfield for the majority of the trip however evidently better performed when on-pace. With an obvious time advantage over the rest of the field this weekend, Deploy will look to begin his campaign with a big win.

The Fastnet Rock gelding was close to perfect when breaking the track record, running the final 600 in 33.02 with his race time close to a second faster than any other runner over the same distance, assuming he will gap the field at the finish line at his best.

Deploy has drawn barrier 3 with Tye Angland to ride, currently fixed at $3 with most bookmakers. Yet to miss a place first up, the favourite has previously won 4 times over 1200m and was 4th behind Redzel and Alizee in a recent Rosehill barrier trial.