Stryker Sires Il Riccio Who Wins By 10 Lengths!

Written on the 17 October 2016

On Friday, 14th October, Tony Gollan trained 3yo gelding, Il Riccio from sire Stryker and dam Free City, romped it home by 10 lengths on his debut race at Ipswich.

Not only that, but he did it in record-equalling time of 1:02.82, matched by galloper Lesley's Choice, who won by six lengths at Ipswich in May 2015. The previous best time recorded was set in 1982 for the 1100m track.

Gollan didn't have high expectations for Il Riccio, given the gelding is a homebred out of an unraced mare, Free City. However, after winning an 800m trial at Deagon by 8.5 lengths in April this year, the odds were looking in his favour, which reflected on the skinny odds of $1.55 at Ipswich on Friday.

Il Riccio is the first foal from unraced mare Free City, owned by Rob Willis who is a long standing client of Tony Gollan.

"Rob's been a great client and friend of mine for a long time so it's great to see this horse hit the ground running," said Gollan.

The sprinting gelding will now head straight to town in search of more favourable winnings at Saturday races, provided he recovers well from this win.

"We'll see how he pulls up but he's obviously got a stack of ability. I don't think he'll have too many issues stretching out over a bit further (than 1100m)," said Gollan.

Watch Video of Il Riccio Romping It Home

(Stryker)