Four-year-old gelding Grebeni notched his seventh career victory when narrowly prevailing in the Drinkwise Maroubra Mile (1600m) at Randwick in front of a throng of enthusiastic owners.
The Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou-trained son of Ocean Park had scored a similarly resolute victory at Randwick a fortnight ago and after preforming consistently well across ten starts in 2023, heads to the paddock for a deserved break.
“He’s good, isn’t he,” Ryan said. “He just wins, he just tries and I thought when the horse with the lighter weight (Riyazan) kicked at the top of the straight he might have his work cut out. He doesn’t win by big margins, but he wins.
“I think Kerrin (McEvoy, jockey) had in the back of his mind that he got to the front too soon on him the other day.
“He was just foxing with him a little bit to have the last crack at them. When he went past me, 25 metres out, I thought he was going to win by a head but he has pulled away and won by a neck.
“He is a good honest horse that deserves a spell now.”
With more than 50 owners, Grebeni has a vocal fan base every time he races.
“They love it. They enjoy it,” Ryan said.
“Tim Boland, when he was breaking him in after we had just bought him at the sales after he was passed in, he said he’d take a share in him and put a couple of mates in. Well I think he has got 50 mates in him.
“Tim can look after him for the next four weeks now.”
Jockey Kerrin McEvoy has now ridden Grebeni on six occasions for five wins.
“He is a nice big horse that is lovely to ride,” McEvoy said. “He has got a good attitude and Gerald and Sterling had been happy with him.
“The start was key today, making sure we moved him out and we were in a dominant spot then and he was able to travel nicely and have the drop on them. He did the rest.
“He is just building a nice little record this horse. He has gone through the grades beautifully and he is going to have a break and come back and get ready for some nice races into the next couple of preparations.”
Ryan and Alexiou celebrated their 250th winner together with Grebeni after four years in training partnership.
The duo are looking forward to the next two campaigns with Grebeni, who can run for some mega-prizes, particularly as a five-year-old.
“He gets the confidence of a couple of wins now, and we can miss most of the autumn and target a couple of good money races leading into Brisbane,” Ryan said.
“You can run in The Coast (A$500,000, 1600m) and the Scone Cup (A$200,000, 1600m) and maybe have one in Brisbane before coming back for the Epsom (Gr.1, A$1.5 million, 1600m), the Big Dance (A$3 million, 1600m) and the Five Diamonds (A$2 million, 1800m).
“There is such a good program of races for five-year-olds in the spring now. His year is already mapped out.”
Grebeni has now won seven of his 15 starts, with a further four placings and A$535,475 in prizemoney.
By high-class Waikato Stud stallion Ocean Park, Grebeni is out of the three-win Medaglia d'Oro mare Dubrovnik and was a $100,000 Gold Coast yearling purchase from Tyreel Stud. – NZ Racing Desk
