Latest News

Trainer Blake Ryan is quietly confident stablemates Love The Cube and Strawberry Impact should be fighting out the finish on Tuesday with hopes they can deliver a stable one-two punch at Kembla Grange.

Ryan is looking to strike early at the competitive provincial card with his two contenders among the leading chances in the first and third events.

Love The Cube ($2.15 favourite) will hunt his second career success in the Go Hawks In The Playoffs Class 1 Plate (1000m) while Strawberry Impact ($4.40) goes in search of a breakthrough win in the Kembla Classic Twilight Races Mar 14th Maiden (1500m).

Trainer Blake Ryan (Pic: Bradley Photos).

"I am confident they will both run well and hopeful at least one of them will get the job done," Ryan said.

"They are two good chances and both seem to have trained on well since their first-up runs.

"They look like the logical races for them to go to after their first-up runs."

Love The Cube spent 10 months away from the races before this preparation after suffering a bleed during the spring and incurring a three-month suspension.

When he has lined up, the son of Rubick raced consistently throughout his four-start career with a win and two seconds to his name.

Ryan expects he will appreciate stepping up an extra 100m in trip after running home strongly from the back to finish second in a 900m event at Goulburn last time.

“Hopefully he is a little bit closer on Tuesday,” Ryan said.

“He lost sight of the pony there a bit first-up but he was good late.

“He isn’t really a 900m horse either, you go back to his first start in a race and he went 900m up to 1100m and won.

“Running him was a better option than trialling him again. Costs you $500 to trial and he’s gone to the races and won five grand for running second.”

Strawberry Impact is still in his first racing preparation and showed some ability on debut at Newcastle last month.

The son of Pierata was doing his best work through the line when fifth in a 1200m maiden and is still learning his craft.

“He is a bit green and raw but he’s honest,” Ryan said.

“He is no world beater but he definitely has a maiden in him so Midway, 1500m looks suitable for him.

“Hopefully he can land closer. It’s not that he didn’t have the speed for 1200m the other day, he just didn’t have the tactical nous or racing brain for it yet.

“I think he definitely hasn’t gone backwards from it and has held what he took to the races there first-up.”

Chad Lever will pilot Strawberry Impact while Love The Cube is partnered by Jay Ford.

All the fields, form and replays for Tuesday's meeting at Kembla Grange