Sydney trainer Gerald Ryan has attempted to fill the void left by suspended apprentice Josh Adams by calling on Melbourne apprentice Ibrahim Gundogdu.
Turkish born Gundogdu will begin his stay in Sydney on Saturday, where he has been booked on three of Ryan’s horses.
The partnership between Ryan and Gundogdu is something of a marriage of convenience. Gundogdu is looking to get his riding career back on track, while Ryan is in need of an apprentice after Josh Adams copped a lengthy ban for testing positive to a banned substance.
Gundogdu, who had been riding for Victorian trainer Mick Price, finished equal second in the 2008/9 Victorian apprentice premiership, but was forced to sit out the entire 2009/10 season because his work visa had expired.
Gundogdu returned to riding in July last year after he was granted permanent residency in Australia, and it is believed that he is moving to Sydney because of the lack of quality claiming apprentices.
Sydney’s leading apprentice Josh Adams won’t be back on the scene for a while and Taylor Lovelock-Wiggins recently out rode his claim, and Ryan believes Gundogdu can be a success with his two kilo claiming allowance.
“We’ve got some good apprentices in Sydney but I reckon there’s an opening here,” Ryan said.
“A lot of the jockeys over the next month are going to be away and he’s got a two kilo claim, I reckon if he can adapt to this way of going he’d be suited.
“If he comes up and gets homesick or doesn’t want to be here I won’t stop him going back but by all reports he’s pretty keen on having a crack at it so I’ll give him a go.”
Ryan also said that forecast rain and a heavy Rosehill track meant that Gundogdu was unlikely to ride a winner on his first day north of the Murray River.
“The wet tracks have sort of ruined my best chances which he would have been riding. Now we’ve just got to hope it dries out a little for the ones that are running.”
