Sky’s the limit for Golden Eagle winner amid Sheza Alibi’s horror show

Trainer Gerald Ryan was adamant Skyhook was a Group 1 winner in waiting, but even he thought the win might come next autumn rather than in the $10 million Golden Eagle in the spring.

The Written Tycoon four-year-old entire, a stakes winner at two and three, minted his credentials as a stallion prospect with his breakthrough Group 1 win in the rich four-year-old race at Randwick on Saturday.

The story of the Golden Eagle, however, was that of beaten favourite Sheza Alibi, and through no fault of her own.

As the field turned for home, jockey Luke Nolen was sweating on a gap that never came. The more he angled out, then in and out again, no gaps appeared. If anything, they became narrower.

As Alibi’s exasperated trainer Peter Moody exhaled a long, slow breath, the race was gone. Sheza Alibi made up some ground in the closing stages, but the race was all over, and the damage was done.

The mare finished 11th, 4.79 lengths behind Skyhook and a long neck in front of Attica, the Group 1-winning horse she was following throughout the race, but the gelding and jockey Regan Bayliss didn’t provide the gaps Nolen was desperately craving.

Moody headed to the bar to drown his sorrows with the spelling paddock awaiting Sheza Alibi.

“Oh, we had a barrier trial, didn’t we? (It’s a) long way to come,” Moody told Channel 7 post-race without apportioning blame on Nolen.

“You can’t jump over them … She got a beautiful run in transit. (In) every other race they’ve opened and fanned, they didn’t in this one.”

The Golden Eagle spoils were instead with the connections of Skyhook, who races in the white with red vee silks of Stallion Match’s Matthew Ennis.

Ennis also shared in the ownership of Southport Tycoon, another Group 1-winning son of Written Tycoon who now stands at stud at Widden Victoria.

As the results stand, Skyhook narrowly held off the late challenge of Decorum for trainer Michael Freedman with pacesetter Beiwacht, last year’s Golden Rose winner, holding on for third.

Skyhook, who was bred by Arrowfield Stud’s John Messara, will find a home at stud of his own when the time comes.

Having the Golden Eagle – elevated by the Asian Pattern Committee in July from non-black-type status to the highest Pattern ranking – on Skyhook’s record ensures that.

Ryan revealed the turning point for Skyhook, who ran seventh in the Golden Slipper and fourth in the Golden Rose, came after his unplaced run in the Group 2 Arrowfield last April.

That day, he finished sixth, three lengths behind Tempted, but by that stage he’d already won stakes races at two and as a spring three-year-old.

Putting Skyhook over some small jumps in training was the key to unlocking the talent of the stallion prospect who is out of Madame Pauline, who is a three-quarter sister to Group 3-winning sire Anders.

“I might have learned how to train him a little bit too. I switched a few little things at home. He’s a horse who doesn’t cop a lot of work. He doesn’t cop backing up, so I might have just found out a little bit more about him,” Ryan said after the Golden Eagle.

“I said to John Messara, I don’t think he’ll be any good until an autumn four-year-old, so we’ll see what happens. He’s ahead of schedule.”

A winner of the Pago Pago Stakes at two, the Listed Rosebud as an early three-year-old, a Hawkesbury Guineas and a Group 3 Gunsynd, Skyhook has clearly trained on at four.

He won the Theo Marks and Shannon Stakes to start his campaign, finished second in the Silver Eagle before landing the $5.6 million first prize in the Golden Eagle.

“He’s had a great prep. We set him for the race after he ran in the Golden Rose. The flaw in his campaign over the last 12 months was taking him to Melbourne (for the Coolmore),” said Ryan who trains in partnership with Sterling Alexiou. 

“After June, we sat down and mapped out these four races heading into this and nothing has gone wrong.”

For jockey Chad Schofield, the Golden Eagle continued his stellar spring, having picked up the ride on Skyhook after regular jockey Kerrin McEvoy was suspended.

Schofield also won The Everest on Tempted.

“We drew really wide (in 14). I always thought we could end up one out one back. That is what I told the owners and trainer pre-race,” Schofield said.

“When Regal Award didn’t jump like he can, I rolled across outside the leader but the pace was very slow. Obviously when Apocalyptic went around, that gave me the perfect bit of cover. 

“My horse dropped the bridle and found the most beautiful rhythm. I took the speed out of the race knowing Autumn Boy and Sheza Alibi finish really well.”

The newly upgraded Group 1 Apollo Stakes is the likely first-up aim for Skyhook next year.

“I would like to give him an ease-up. Since he came into work in December for the autumn, he’s only had 18 days off,” Ryan said.

“I’d like to give him a break. It’s a quick turnaround to the autumn. The Apollo Stakes is in February and it’s a Group 1 race now, so we’ll aim him at that.

“He’s won his good race now and I think there’s more in him.”

Skyhook was a $575,000 purchase by his trainers from the 2024 Magic Millions Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast.