Scratched at the barriers seven days ago when kicking out in the Caulfield Classic, Red Aces was at his best behaviour in an action-packed Group II Drummond Golf Vase (2040m) at Moonee Valley.
Ridden by Jamie Mott for Nick Ryan, the son of Red Aces rounded the home three wide and engaged in a bumping duel with Ethan Brown on Liam Howley’s So You Think gelding Opening Address. Red Aces defeated Opening Address by a long-head with a nose back to the Tivaci gelding King Of Thunder, who rocketed home.
“It's hard to top Perth with Ollie and Munhamek, but to be here on Cox Plate Day and successful and active on one of the biggest days and getting a Group Two win with a lovely colt heading towards a Derby, it's pretty good,” Nick Ryan said.
“He had a really good gallop here Tuesday. I had to do a bit more with him Thursday. He'd come through that so well.
“I actually rode him myself this morning. I had to give him a little whirl around because he's so well.
“So that's what I mean by saying I think today's, or last week, as unfortunate as it was, it could be a blessing in disguise. Seven-day backup. Today's the perfect gallop for next week.
“They had the chance to beat him then. He's tough. He's a good colt.
Ryan said Red Aces will press on to the Victoria Derby. In two starts at Flemington, he won over 1800m and was second in the Listed Super Impose Stakes.
“The beauty is, he just has to walk over the road. It's his home deck and we love playing on our home deck,” Ryan said.
A $380,000 purchase for his trainer from the Musk Creek Farm draft at the 2023 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, Red Aces is a half-brother to the Group III SAJC Chairman's Stakes winner Declarationofheart (Declaration Of War).
He is the third winner from four to race for the winning Encosta De Lago mare Cardiac, a three-quarter sister to Listed winner Da Little Engine and a half to the VRC Oaks heroine Arapaho Miss (Dabnehill Dancer), whose daughter Miami Bound (Reliable Man) also won the VRC Oaks.
Red Aces is Cardiac's final foal. She died in October 2022.
Red Aces is the 32nd stakes-winner for Arrowfield Stud’s Dundeel.
