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By Brad Gray
At Rosehill Gardens

“I probably got him wrong.”

That was the frank admission from trainer Gerald Ryan after Albumin won the John Size Hall Of Fame Handicap (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens.

Albumin winning on his home track

“It took me too long to work out he is an 1100m horse,” Ryan admitted, “Everyone kept riding him and saying he was a 1400m horse, and I fell into that trap.”

“I’ve always had a good opinion of him and probably got him wrong. If you have a look at his 1100m record it is now five starts for three wins a second and a third.”

Ryan makes a fair point with the grey son of Foxwedge only suffering defeats over the trip on debut at Canterbury, when beaten less than a length, while the third was in the Listed Heritage Stakes behind Viridine and Single Bullet.

“It was the right race today. With due respect, it was the easiest race he’d been in for a long time, he drew a barrier and was down in weight. The three-year-olds against the older horses doesn’t really matter at this time of year,” Ryan said.

The last time we saw Albumin he ran last at Warwick Farm back in March which prompted Ryan to pull up stumps and start again six weeks later.

“I’ve always had a good opinion of him and have been disappointed with him a couple of times but after his big flop at Warwick Farm it was back to the drawing board. We changed his work around and kept him fresh,” he said.

Albumin flashed home along the fence to win first up with the blinkers on! pic.twitter.com/YIEgALmW0x

— Racing NSW (@racing_nsw) May 19, 2018

One of those changes included the blinkers going on for the first time. The three-year-old is no stranger to stakes racing having already run in six Group or Listed races and he could find himself in the $150,000 Listed June Stakes (1100m) at Royal Randwick in three weeks’ time.

Meanwhile, Jean Van Overmeire expects the second-placed Oriental Runner to be hard to beat next time out having run a clear second, after making the running out in front.

“He was very brave. The winner had a little fitness edge and he will definitely improve,” Overmeire quipped.

Check out all the results and replays for Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.