Gytrash Surges To Rich Sydney Victory

The Adelaide-trained Gytrash has produced a withering finish to win the $1 million Yes Yes Yes Stakes at Rosehill.

Starting a $3.60 favourite, the five-year-old gelding overcame fellow Everest runner Haut Brion Her ($3.70) by a neck with Imaging ($10) a further 2-1/4 lengths away third.

The only other Everest runner in the event, Eduardo, finished fourth.

Trainer Gordon Richards was rapt with the effort by jockey Jason Collett, who rode a patient race before unleashing Gytrash’s renowned finishing sprint.

“Once he got himself mobile he was brilliant,” Richards said.

“The jockey’s got ice in his veins. I couldn’t be as cool as him.

“He had some work to do, the leaders sort of stacked them up and sprinted for home and left him a bit flat-footed on the heavy ground.

“But look, he just knows how to win. Or wants to win.”

The victory has capped a lucrative spring for Gytrash’s connections after they collected $1.3 million for running third in The Everest two weeks ago.

The Yes Yes Yes Stakes (1300m) carried a first prize money purse of $580,000 plus an additional $750,000 bonus to any horse who won it after contesting The Everest.

Richards doesn’t see why Gytrash can’t do it all again next year.

“He’ll have a spell, have a break up here I think then come back to Adelaide and get ready for the Lightning and the Newmarket,” Richards said.

“This is one place you can go to the races and the owners can fly up. I have been so welcomed up here. From Clare Cunningham’s stables to Jason (Collett), the Inglis Hotel, everyone in the media.”

Collett was grateful that the horse stayed in Sydney, rather than heading south for the Flemington carnival.

“I have a lot of people to thank, obviously Gordon for keeping him here,” Collett said.

“There’s a Group One next week in Victoria that he could have gone to but Peter V’Landys and his team put a carrot there and he took it.”