Selecting Rubick in the sales ring was easy. Choosing the colours he would wear was almost as complex as the puzzle for which he is named.
With four original owners each with their own silks, it was decided to use none of them but to go with trainer Gerald Ryan’s stable colours.
Ryan reckons he can solve the Rubik’s cube and helped sort out the dilemma.
Rubick - Photo by Sarah Ebbett
“There were four different owners and four different sets of colours so we went with mine,” Ryan said.
The yellow with blue spots are not worn by just any horse and have been special to Ryan as both a trainer and in his former life a jockey.
Rubick carries them into Saturday’s Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield, a race Ryan earmarked almost as soon as he arrived in the stable for his first preparation.
“I wore them when I won my only Group One on Bit Of A Skite in the All Aged Stakes,” Ryan said.
“They were Owen Lynch’s colours. I was apprenticed to him and years later when I was training on the Gold Coast and heard he was retiring I asked if I could have them for my stable.
“They have been on some good horses. Clangalang carried them when he won the Derby and the Epsom.
“Owen’s widow Val still follows the races and gets a kick out of seeing the colours win.”
Punters believe Val Lynch will get the chance to cheer on Saturday with Rubick displacing Earthquake at the head of the market during the week.
“He’s good. Everything has gone well since he won the Prelude,” Ryan said.
“Nothing bothers him. He’s such an athletic colt and recovered well after his last start.
“It was a hot day and he knew he’d had a race but it didn’t take him long to get back to normal.”
Rubick won the colts and geldings Prelude last Saturday week in the same time as Earthquake covered the 1100m in the fillies division.
The two races were run differently with Earthquake pulling away from the field at the end while Rubick had to work harder at the beginning.
Ryan believes barrier 10 gives Brenton Avdulla more options to take up a comfortable position.
“He won’t have to be bustled like he was last time when he drew inside,” he said.
“He should be able to sit off something and get the job done.”
Before the Prelude, Coolmore Stud bought a share in Rubick believing he could develop into the ideal replacement for his ageing sire Encosta De Lago.
His other owners are former racing commentator David Raphael, Clangalang’s owner Damion Flower, the colt’s breeder Muzaffar Yaseen and Neil Werrett, a shareholder in Black Caviar and also last weekend’s Lightning Stakes winner Snitzerland, also trained by Ryan.
