Racing: Sprinter wants easy Railway track

Ryan Mark (centre) is the current joint second favourite for the Railway Stakes. Photo / Trish Dunell

Trainer is confident of a big showing on New Year's Day if the conditions at Ellerslie suit Ryan Mark.

Running against the tide of general opinion, John Morell is hoping for rain on Friday.

The Waikato horseman badly wants an easing of the Ellerslie track for well-fancied Ryan Mark for the $200,000 Sistema Railway Stakes at Ellerslie.

Ryan Mark pulled up scratchy in his action when he raced a bit below his best in finishing third to Statham and Irish Moon in the Concorde at Ellerslie at his last start. It was obvious the classy sprinter was not hitting out properly in the second half of the race.

Which is the reason regular rider Michael Coleman is not on Ryan Mark this time, but not for the reasons you might expect related to the horse's form.

"When he was so scratchy immediately after the Concorde I thought there was no way he would be there for the Railway, so I told Mickey to take another ride," said Morrell.

"It was a couple of days later when I realised there was every chance he could get to the Railway, but Mickey had taken another ride by then [Whosyourmaster] and I was lucky Opie Bosson was at a loose end."

Ryan Mark is the current joint second favourite at $5.50 behind Sacred Star ($3.80), but will shorten significantly if the rain, expected for late in the week, arrives.

Morrell has changed Ryan Mark's work since the Concorde.

"It's been too hard to work on the course proper at Te Rapa and the plough is the 2-year-old track and too tight to gallop so we've taken him to Cambridge to work on their plough and that's been good.

"We've also had him at the beach at Raglan, but the beach there is not ideal at the moment, there are holes in it and the rocks are exposed at this end."

Morrell is confident of a big showing if the conditions suit Ryan Mark.

"He looks a bit tighter than he did for the Concorde."

Ryan Mark has drawn the favourable No 2 barrier.

Also well served are the two Tony Pike horses Sacred Star, who will come out of gate No 3 and Allez Eagle, who is the joint second favourite with Ryan Mark. He has the No 1 barrier.

Also well served by yesterday's barrier draw is Natuzzi (No 6). He was super impressive winning under a big weight at Te Rapa last start and was last night sitting as the fourth favourite at $6.

The above quartet dominate the market with a decent gap back to Statham and Passing Shot at $12. Statham and Irish Moon ($16) are both on the emergency list.

The Lance O'Sullivan/Andrew Scott pair of Whosyourmaster and Fascination have not fared well in the barrier draw at No 13 and No 16 respectively, although as a back runner Whosyourmaster should be the least inconvenienced of the two.

When asked yesterday before the barrier draw what gate she would like Hasselhoof to come out of for his big test in Friday's $100,000 Rich Hill Mile, co-trainer Donna Logan said: "Somewhere between 2 and 7.

No 6 or 7 would be perfect." Hassellhoof has drawn gate No 6.