Star sprinter back from annual beach break

John Morell welcomed his Group One winner Ryan Mark back at the weekend.

The Te Rapa horseman has annually packed off the gifted sprinter-miler to Raglan to recharge his batteries and enjoy a break away from the winter tracks.

“He went there in April – I’ve got an old friend Pip Blair who can pace work him on the beach and it’s a bit of variety for the horse,” Morell said.

“He’s gone to her every year and she knows what she’s doing.”

Morell has yet to make any firm spring plans for his Railway Stakes winner, who is a finalist in the Champion Sprinter division of the New Zealand Horse of the Year Awards.

“I’ll wait and see how he comes up and what the weather’s going to be like, but if he’s good then we’ll probably be looking at the Foxbridge Plate and then Hawke’s Bay again,” he said.

Ryan Mark has won twice at Hastings and placed in both the Gr.1 Makfi Challenge Stakes and the Gr.3 Spring Sprint.

His half-brother Ryan Jim also won on the Hawke’s Bay course in the autumn for his second success from as many starts before overseas interests came calling for the Align three-year-old.

“He’s been sold and will be going to Hong Kong – he was turned out for three months and he’s at JK Farm at the moment,” Morell said.