WINTER TURNED "GREEN" AT KEMBLA GRANGE

SUNDAY: August 9, 2026: WHAT goes around comes around!

Hawkesbury trainer Blake Ryan kick-started the new season at Kembla Grange yesterday by winning with a horse he bought but didn’t initially prepare.

And he underscored his skill in the process by scoring first-up at 1400m with four-year-old Green Winter, a horse he describes as a “Jekyll and Hyde” character, in the Midway Maiden Plate.

Ridden by Jeff Penza, Green Winter ($5.50) made a belated debut in defeating Kembla Grange trainers Mitch Beer and George Carpenter’s Grand Carousel ($7) and Theresa Bateup’s $4.20 favorite Coral Cove.

Ryan, acting as agent, purchased Green Winter for $32.500 on behalf of Hong Kong-based Magus Equine Limited, one of his clients.

“I was in Adelaide, and Magus Equine asked me to have a look at this colt (by Overshare) at the 2024 Magic Millions yearling sale,” Ryan explained today.

“They had a half-brother to him in Hong Kong.

“This colt was big enough and moved well, so I bought him.

“It was the first time I had been to the Adelaide sale.

“If Green Winter had gone to the breeze-ups as an early two-year-old, he would have stayed with me but that wasn’t the case and he went to Annabel and Rob Archibald.

“He had three trials for the Archibalds without racing, and came to me earlier this year.”

Ryan went to the races yesterday with the now gelding, confident in his ability but unsure whether he would see the best of him.

“He’s a real Jekyll and Hyde,” he said.

“You can ride him one morning on the track and he’ll be great, but the next morning he could terrorise you.

“That’s why I put such an experienced rider as Jeff (Penza) on him yesterday, and he got the job done.

“Jeff is very fit, and rode Green Winter at his most recent trial at Hawkesbury on July 27 when second over 1000m.”

Ryan now is hopeful Green Winter’s owners won’t call the gelding to Hong Kong to continue his career overseas.

“I’ll proceed as though he is staying here for now at least,” he said.

“There’s a suitable Class 1 Handicap (1600m) for provincial-trained horses at Newcastle on Saturday week.”