Joe Pride’s versatile The Everest hero Think About It may be drawn wide but the money is on him to return to winning form with a victory for the punters in Saturday’s 2024 George Ryder Stakes field.

Rosehill Gardens comes to life with a bumper five elite level races taking place across the Golden Slipper Day program including the weight-for-age Group 1 $1 million George Ryder Stakes (1500m).

A full field featuring 19 final acceptors is set to line-up in the middle-distance feature on the card with Think About It drawn out in gate 17 donning the No. 1 saddlecloth.

Sam Clipperton retains the ride on the gun So You Think five-year-old whose earnings are in excess of $12 million with 11 wins from 14 starts to date.

Think About It is best known for his The Everest triumph over 1200m last spring, and he now chases his first victory since.

He was beaten fresh by Lady Laguna when runner-up in the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes (1300m) and rises in distance again second-up.

Despite only having won up to 1400m previously, Think About It remains top of the George Ryder Stakes odds at $5 through Ladbrokes.com.au.

The danger in the full George Ryder Stakes field is Militarize now into equal $5 favouritism with Think About It.

Trainer Chris Waller opted to scratch his three-time Group 1 winning colt from the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m) in favour of this shorter distance run against the older horses.

James McDonald has the ride on the talented young son of Dundeel who is fit third-up this weekend coming off back-to-back seconds.

His latest victory was here back in September’s Group 1 Golden Rose Stakes (1400m), after which he ran fifth in the Caulfield Guineas and eighth only 2.35 lengths beaten in the iconic Cox Plate over 2040m at The Valley.

Fresh Militarize took on an open-age field when runner-up to stablemate Fangirl in the Group 2 Apollo Stakes (1400m).

He then finished second beaten a nostril flare by Celestial Legend in the Group 1 Randwick Guineas (1600m).

Dropping back to the 1500m looks an interesting choice, but he has the right draw and credentials to get win number four on his CV.

Two other runners are currently under double-figures in George Ryder Stakes betting for the weekend with the Tony & Calvin McEvoy-trained Veight ($9) and the Gary Portelli-trained Encap ($9) being kept safe in the markets.

Damian Lane partners Veight from gate eight fourth-up with the three-year-old Grunt colt having just his second start in Sydney after a fourth in the Group 1 Inglis’ Sires here last April.

The spring’s Group 1 Caulfield Guineas runner-up over a mile was a first-up Group 2 Australia stakes winner at The Valley before a fourth in the CF Orr behind Mr Brightside.

His latest start on March 2 saw him place second in Flemington’s Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) and he ticks plenty of boxes.

Encap gets the run of the race from barrier two with Blake Shinn in the saddle of the Capitalist three-year-old who was second to Militarize narrowly beaten in last year’s Golden Rose.

He has been competitive in plenty since including a last start fifth only a length off the winner in a blanket finish behind Celestial Legend in the Randwick Guineas.

Looking the value at generous George Ryder Stakes odds of $10 is Think About It’s last start conqueror Lady Laguna chasing more Group 1 glory.

Annabel Neasham’s ultra-consistent Overshare mare has been in fine form winning four of her past five starts most recently that surprise Canterbury win by over a length.

She has a lovely affinity with the Rosehill track (4:2-1-0) and looked to still have plenty to give last time out suggesting the 1500m is a non-issue.

Other notable George Ryder Stakes hopes in 2024 include the Godolphin-raced Pericles ($12) to be ridden by Hugh Bowman and market mover Amenable ($10) second-up in gate four with Mark Zahra to ride.

The 2024 George Ryder Stakes is set to run as Rosehill Race 7 at 3:55pm (AEDT) on Saturday’s 10-race card with full markets from Ladbrokes.com.au available here.

2024 George Ryder Stakes Final Field & Barrier Draw

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Probable Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	x111x113x2	THINK ABOUT IT	Joseph Pride	Sam Clipperton	17	59kg			115
2	42151120×0	CEPHEUS (GB)	Matthew Dunn	Adam Hyeronimus	14	59kg			109
3	2x1132x625	PERICLES	James Cummings	Hugh Bowman	15	59kg			109
4	131x9250x4	KOVALICA (NZ)	Chris Waller	Nash Rawiller	19	59kg			108
5	x901393x78	GOLDEN MILE	James Cummings	Tommy Berry	5	59kg			107
6	22x0180x47	NAVAJO PEAK	David Payne	Kerrin McEvoy	10	59kg			105
7	924x1111x8	UNSPOKEN (IRE)	Peter & Paul Snowden	Tom Sherry	1	59kg			105
8	4x765824x7	BANDERSNATCH	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Jordan Childs	11	59kg			103
9	0x99312186	LOCH EAGLE	Kris Lees	Dylan Gibbons (a)	9	59kg			103
10	12515x516x	MIGHTY ULYSSES (GB)	Annabel Neasham	Tom Marquand	3	59kg			103
11	87x26x43x2	NEW ENERGY (IRE)	Ciaron Maher	Jason Collett	16	59kg			102
12	254x1564x2	AMENABLE	Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr)	Mark Zahra	4	59kg			99
13	3x429602x5	WILLIAMSBURG	Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou	Joshua Parr	13	59kg			96
14	x031x5357x	COSMIC VEGA (IRE)	Ciaron Maher	Ms Jamie Kah	18	59kg			95
15	123×211121	LADY LAGUNA	Annabel Neasham	Tyler Schiller	12	57kg			110
16	11x5158x22	MILITARIZE (NZ)	Chris Waller	James McDonald	7	56kg			110
17	4x1525x142	VEIGHT	Tony & Calvin McEvoy	Damian Lane	8	56kg			106
18	223125×325	ENCAP	Gary Portelli	Blake Shinn	2	56kg			95
19	2x11169x68	TIZ INVINCIBLE	Ciaron Maher	Zac Lloyd (a)	6	54kg			92

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

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