The 2025 Golden Rose odds on classy Written Tycoon colt Skyhook have notably firmed after the Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou trained up-and-comer landed a Black-Type win fresh in the mud carrying the topweight to victory in The Rosebud results over the weekend.

Racing for the first time since his midfield seventh in the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes behind Marhoona back in March, he launched his spring campaign in style with a commanding win in the Listed Rosebud Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill defying a heavy track, slow tempo, and topweight of 60.5kg to storm home from last and defeat Grand Prairie by half a length.
Ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, Skyhook showed class and resilience, prompting co-trainer Ryan to compare him to former stable star Menari.
“Jason, my track rider, said he’s the best horse we’ve had since Menari,” Ryan said.
“He’s a good horse with the right attitude and doesn’t need much work.”
Skyhook, a $575,000 Magic Millions purchase by Written Tycoon, will now follow the same path as Menari, heading to the Group 2 Run to the Rose (1200m) in four weeks before targeting the Group 1 $1 million Golden Rose (1400m) two weeks later on September 27.
Ryan added, “He’s not a horse that can go two weeks between runs – he needs his races spaced.”
Skyhook, already a Group 3 winner from his juvenile campaign in the Pago Pago Stakes last prep, showed exactly what he was made of in his three-year-old season debut prompting bookmakers to slash his all-in Golden Rose price from $26 to $11 through Ladbrokes.
The stable’s aforementioned Menari (2017) was the last to complete The Rosebud – Run To The Rose double.
Peter Snowden‘s The Rosebud runner-up Grand Prairie is a 50/1 outsider for the Golden Rose, while Pallaton who ran third over the weekend in the early lead-up as the beaten favourite for trainer Michael Freedman has also eased out to $51.
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