RYAN'S DEBUTANT "EFFORTLESSLY ACHIEVES SUCCESS"

SATURDAY: July 20, 2024: BLAKE Ryan thinks so much of his impressive Wyong debut winner He’s In Like Flynn that he has plans to test him in stakes grade at only his third start.

“He’s a very nice horse; the best I’ve had so far in my stable,” the Hawkesbury trainer said after the two-year-old had steamrolled his rivals in a Provincial Maiden Plate (1000m) today.

Ridden by Andrew Adkins, He’s In Like Flynn was a well-backed $1.50 favorite and cleared out to score by more than four lengths from another debutant, fellow Hawkesbury trainer Alex Lemaire’s $61 shot Show County.

One of the connotations of the well-known phrase “In Like Flynn”, which arose from the swashbuckling Tasmanian-born actor Errol Flynn, is effortlessly achieving success.

That fitted He’s In Like Flynn to a tee as he took the first step toward recouping the $350,000 connections paid for him at the Inglis Ready2Race sale in Sydney last October as an unraced youngster.

“He’s In Like Flynn is raced by Barlaine Racing, headed by Peter Coffey, who also races the recent Civic Stakes winner Diamond Diesel with Gosford trainer Adam Duggan,” Ryan said.

“I got a phone to call to train He’s In Like Flynn, and I’m glad I’ve got him.

“We’ve taken our time with him, and my only concern was that he jumped on terms with the field.

“Of his three barrier trials, the best he has jumped was in the last of them when he easily won an 800m heat at home on July 8.

“Once he began well enough today, I knew they wouldn’t get past him.”

Ryan, who is enjoying clearly his best season to date with a dozen winners, is looking to take the Showcase gelding back to Wyong for a Midway Benchmark 64 Handicap (1000m) on August 4.

“If he wins that, I’ll have a crack at the Listed Rosebud Stakes (1100m) for three-year-olds at Rosehill Gardens on August 17.

“He might have something of a fitness edge on some of the better performed current two-year-olds, who will turn three on August 1.”

Ryan admitted to some nerves pre-race and found a spot out the back to watch the Wyong race on the big screen.

“I’m not used to having $1.50 pops, so I just wanted to find a quiet place on my own,” he said.

He’s In Like Flynn is the third foal of the Domesday mare Damselle, and initially fetched $50,000 when sold as a weanling in 2022.

That increased to $80,000 at the 2023 Inglis Premier yearling sale in Melbourne in February last year before bringing more than four times that amount at the Ready2Race sale when the “boot was on the other foot” in regard to Ryan.

Whereas he prepares youngsters for that annual sale, He’s In Like Flynn wasn’t a member of his team last year, and the first time he saw him was at that auction.