Up-and-coming talent Sara Ryan won the biggest race of her training career on Tuesday, with tough-as-guts galloper Attractable pirouetting to victory in the $3 million Big Dance (1600m) at Royal Randwick.
The five-year-old had Regan Bayliss in the saddle and raced up on the speed as the Bjorn Baker-trained Wategos led the field along at a good clip.
Attractable ($19) then found the front on the home straight, and from there, the Wyong galloper demonstrated the style, grace, and determination of a prima ballerina to win by more than a length from the Matthew Dunn-trained Cepheus (Nash Rawiller, $4.80), while nearly three lengths away in third was the Barbara Joseph, Paul and Matt Jones-trained Super Helpful (Andrew Adkins, $19).
Attractable won his way into the rich event by claiming victory in the 2023 Coffs Harbour Cup back in August.
His win in the Big Dance, which netted connections over $1.5 million in prize money, means Attractable now boasts a record of 23 starts for eight wins, four minor placings and over $2 million in prize money.
The second horse, Cepheus, won his way into the Big Dance when taking out the South Grafton Cup back in July.
Since then, the Murwillumbah galloper has won back-to-back races in town, taking out multiple feature races at Rosehill Gardens.
Rounding out the top three was Super Helpful, which was one of the first horses that qualified for the Big Dance when winning last year’s Snake Gully Cup.
For more on the Big Dance, click here.
