RYAN NETS HAWKESBURY'S THIRD ROUGHIE OF WEEK

FRIDAY: May 30, 2025: BLAKE Ryan was ahead of the game!

He became the third Hawkesbury trainer to win with an outsider this week when successful with Nothing But Net (Jay Ford) at Goulburn today.

Making his debut, the King’s Legacy youngster took the 2YO Maiden Handicap (1000m) at $31.

Mitch and Desiree Kearney won with Hard Pick ($41) at their home track on Tuesday, and Terry Croft went to town the following day to score at Canterbury with another $41 roughie Gilette after much better odds were offered.

Ryan was indeed proactive to secure Nothing But Net to train for Horse Ventures’ Matthew Sandblom, and had an interesting story to relate en route home.

“I bought him at last year’s Inglis Classic yearling sale, and then later in the year couldn’t sell him at the Inglis Ready2Race sale for early two-year-olds,” he said.

“So I put him online in October and Matthew bought him for $30,000.

“I had trained horses before for Matthew and when I found out he had purchased the youngster, I got on the front foot and rang him to ask if I could train the youngster.

“You don’t get anywhere sitting back and waiting for something to happen.”

When Sandblom agreed, Ryan took his time with Nothing But Net and didn’t do anything with him until January.

“When he was ready I gave him two trials and the form around those trials was really good,” he said.

“When he ran fourth in the Kembla Grange trial on May 12, Kerry Parker’s unraced filly All The Way Mae ran second and came out and won her first start at Newcastle earlier in the week, beating a short-priced favorite.

“I didn’t go to Goulburn today thinking Nothing But Net could win, and would have been happy to see him run home and finish third or fourth and then I could have stepped him up to 1200m next time with some confidence.

“But he jumped well, sat on the pace and overpowered them in the closing stages to get the job done.

“It was great and Matthew was happy with the result.”

The aptly-named Nothing But Net (his dam Swish is a basketball term which relates to a shot going through the hoop without touching the rim or backboard) ran down Farset ($5.50) and Dubbo Boy ($4) to get his career off to the best possible start.

Nothing But Net was Ryan’s 11th winner for the current season, and he goes to Rosehill Gardens tomorrow hoping to boost that number to 12.

He will start the very consistent Lady Extreme in the Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1100m).

Jay Ford, who partnered the mare in four consecutive city second placings last preparation, is off to Brisbane to continue a successful association with Kembla Grange four-year-old Flying Bandit in the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2400m),  and Alysha Collett takes over.

“The horses which beat Lady Extreme all had upside, and she ran to her best,” Ryan said.

“The Midway looks an interesting race, and I’m sure she will again run well.”