Gerald Ryan simply liked what he saw of Facile at the Inglis Easter yearling sale, and the Trapeze Artist filly was knocked down to him without fanfare for $420,000.
Gerald Ryan has been impressed by everything Facile has done. Credit:Getty
“She was my pick of the sale, so I bought her on spec,” Ryan said. “I had the mother [I Like It Easy]. It was a good cross, and she was just athletic but a bit on the small side.
“She moved well but needed to bulk up a bit.”
Trapeze Artist won three group 1 races under Ryan’s care, including the Golden Rose and the TJ Smith as a three-year-old, and around the same time Pierro filly I Like It Easy won a Reginald Allen Quality for the stable.
Ryan would have been happy to keep the filly from the first crop from his star, but she sold as quick as she has gone in two barrier trials.
“Sally Williams from Aquis and Kacy Fogden really liked it,” Ryan said. “The next day they rang and said have you sold any of that filly yet?
“They took 55 per cent but wanted to make it into a girls [syndicate] horse, and we got BK racing, who was the underbidder, and a couple of others involved and she was done.”
The group could get their money back on Saturday, when Facile makes her racing debut as $2.20 favourite in the Inglis Nursery after two barrier trials win.
She will not only run for the $287,000 first prize cheque but also for a $200,000 women’s bonus if she can beat Istoia Girl home.
“We don’t let them go until race day,” Ryan said. “But I have always thought if two-year-olds can run the same time as older horses at the trials they are above average,” Ryan said.
“She has done it twice without a lot of effort.
“She surprised me at Warwick Farm in her first trial because she only had one jump-out into that, and everything since then she has gone forward.
“Saturday will tell us where we are, and she will be in the paddock on Monday, and hopefully, we are looking at the good races in the autumn.”
