HE WAS JUST AWESOME INDEED

THURSDAY: June 19, 2025: HE’S the dearest yearling Blake Ryan has purchased, and lived up to his name on debut at Gosford today.

Just Awesome ($2.40 favorite) was indeed that in the 2YO Maiden Plate (1100m), and led home a Hawkesbury quinella.

After beginning only fairly from his inside draw and veering in sharply passing the 100m, Just Awesome did a terrific job to defeat another debutante, fellow Hawkesbury trainer Brad Widdup’s Mind Ya Bizz ($15), to whom he conceded 3.5kg.

Ryan went to $425,000 to secure the Written Tycoon colt at last year’s Inglis Australian Easter yearling sale, and then syndicated him.

“I stuck my neck out,” he said this evening.

“I’m trying to build a stable, and you can’t sit back waiting for something to happen.

“This colt was amongst the Yu Long draft from Victoria, and he looked outstanding when I first saw him.

“Fortunately, I had a number of clients keen to support me when I bought Just Awesome, and that made it easier to keep bidding on him.”

Ryan named the youngster after watching a video of a good racehorse by the same name, trained by Ken Turner.

“I name all my horses, and am pretty keen on the historical side of the industry,” Ryan said.

“I had tried a few names, and came across an old replay of Just Awesome in a Melbourne race, and that made up my mind.”

Ryan was especially pleased, not only that he was able to score on debut with the high-priced youngster, but that Tommy Berry rode him.

“Tommy has been one of my best mates for 15 years, but had never ridden for me,” he explained.

“I sent him a text to tell him that I felt I had a good horse to convince him to go to Gosford.”

Ryan said he went to the track pretty confident about winning after a stack of scratchings reduced the field to 10 runners.

“Just Awesome improved from his first trial to his second, and my only real concern was that he might not begin well from his rails draw,” he said.

“He was only fairly away, and that’s why you put the top jockeys on.

“Just Awesome looked as though he was going to win easily when he ducked in sharply in the straight, and that’s greenness.

“I feel he is city class and provides he comes through the race well and continues to do well, we’ll go to town for a 2YO Handicap (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens on July 5.

“We’ll see where we go after that, but I’m sure he will be even better next season as a three-year-old.”

Ryan’s victory with Just Awesome was his 13th in 2024-25 in only his fourth full season of training, equalling his benchmark number last season.

His career is definitely heading in the right direction as he has also prepared 33 placegetters this season, 14 more than last season.