Warrnambool’s May carnival may be six months away but local trainer Patrick Ryan is already planning a strong jumps assault over the three days.
Imported gallopers Clondaw Warrior, Ivan Grozny and Bold Bandit entered Ryan’s Warrnambool stables last Saturday after time in quarantine and all three will be aimed at feature jumps races at the May carnival.
“Clondaw Warrior and Ivan Grozny are the highest rating jumpers to have come to Australia,” Ryan said. 
“They come here very well credentialled but now they’ve got to adapt to our conditions and racing.”
Both horses were previously in the care of champion Irish trainer Willie Mullins and were entered for the 2016 and 2017 Melbourne Cups. 
“Bold Bandit isn’t rated as highly as the other two but he’s a nice type. He also has to get used to our conditions. 
“I’m not sure at this stage which races they’ll run in at the May carnival but that’s the path they’ll be going down.”
Ryan is also upbeat about the chances of his star jumper I’ll’ava’alf for next year’s Grand Annual Steeplechase and is positive about another imported jumper, John Monash, who failed to live up to expectations this season.
“I’m lucky in that I’ve got great support from a group of loyal owners and the race we want to win is the Grand Annual,” he said. 
“I’ll’ava’alf ran third in this year’s Annual. He’s been a great horse for his connections, having won the 2016 Crisp Steeplechase and run second in the Thackeray Steeplechase.
“We’ll set him for the Great Eastern at Oakbank on Easter Monday and the Grand Annual. 
“He’ll be spelled after those runs and set for the Jericho Cup on the flat at Warrnambool in November next year. 
“We had a couple of minor issues with John Monash but he’s over them. We’ll set him for a restricted steeplechase at the Warrnambool carnival.”
Ryan’s biggest success at the May carnival came in 2008, when he won the Warrnambool Cup with Video Star.
Onward and upward
Dunkeld Racing Club officials are ecstatic about the size and behaviour of last Saturday’s 10,000-strong crowd.
Club manager Karen Van Kempen said fine weather had been a key to what was a modern-day record crowd.
“It just shows we’re doing something right, which is rewarding after the hard work the committee put into the event,” she said. 
Plans are already underway to build on the success of this year’s meeting for 2018, with additional on-course ATMs and TV screens high on the agenda.
Dunkeld’s cup meeting next year will be run on November 17.
Diamond sparkles
Odds-on favourite Another Diamond gave her backers little cause for concern as she led from barrier to box in the XXXX Gold BM70 Handicap (1200m) at Dunkeld.
The Colac mare pinged straight to the front from barrier one and was too strong for Daffey Dux and Favonski in the $20,000 race.
“The race was over not long after the start,” said trainer Bill Cerchi. “She’s very good on her day. 
Cerchi said the five-year-old mare was hard to place due to her consistency.
“She’s a tough mare to place now because there are no fillies-and-mares races in the country for her. 
“We’ll have to look at going to town with her because she’ll be weighted out of races in the bush.”
Stablemates Royal Spinner and Menegatti pleased Cerchi with their efforts to run second in other restricted-class events at Dunkeld.
“I thought it was a huge run by Royal Spinner,” he said. “He was slow to muster speed from the gates and then was trapped three and four wide for most of the race. 
“You can’t be three and four wide around Dunkeld and win. His run was full of merit.
“I thought Menegatti never had much luck in the run either.”
Claiming apprentice Thomas Stockdale rode all three Cerchi runners at Dunkeld.
Royal Spinner and Menegatti are likely to have their next runs at the Colac Christmas meeting on December 16.
Winners for Williams
Warrnambool trainer Matthew Williams took the honours at Geelong last Sunday with a double on the seven-race program. 
Williams was successful with Paremuus Boy and Maeve In Manhattan. 
Maeve in Manhattan’s maiden win capped a big weekend for jockey Damien Thornton, who’d ridden three winners at Dunkeld on Saturday.