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Giant Ryan takes owner, trainer on quite a ride After getting a little bit of a blowout on Tuesday, Grade 1 scorer Giant Ryan had an easy work on Wednesday morning ahead of Saturday's Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan. Appearing on the main course at about 6:15 a.m. (local time), the son of Freud galloped twice around the all-weather course with exercise rider James Heavey aboard. The duo took the first lap very easy and second one just a tad quicker. "I want to take a little steam out of him this morning," trainer Biznath Parboo explained. After the gallop, the six-year-old horse was taken to the starting gate where he stood in barrier number 3, the same stall from which he'll break in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen. Jockey Willie Martinez will have the mount. A winner of six straight races, including the Grade 1 Vosburgh Invitational at Belmont Park before having that skein stopped with an eighth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs last November, Shivananda Parbhoo's Giant Ryan will be making his first start since that defeat on Saturday when he challenges a world-class field of 12. Trained by the owner's father, both quick to dismiss the lackluster run by six-year-old in the Breeders' Cup. "I really expected him to run a lot better than that," Parbhoo said. "After the race, we had him scoped and we saw that he had a respiratory infection. He wasn't showing any signs of distress before the race. He didn't stop eating, but he clearly had already had the infection." "I expect him to run 110 percent better here," the elder Parboo concurred. "When he's 100 percent, he knows how to do just one thing -- win. When he gets into that starting stall, he knows what he has to do." Giant Ryan won races over four different tracks during his six-race winning streak -- the inner dirt track at Aqueduct, the main dirt track at Aqueduct, a sloppy main track at Belmont Park and the dirt oval at his home base of Calder. As trainer Parboo noted, the versatile horse can win when racing from off the pace, when running from just behind the leaders or when running on the lead -- so how the race plays out Saturday doesn't seem to faze the trainer. The biggest question mark remains as to whether Giant Ryan will take to Meydan's all-weather Tapeta surface when the gates are sprung Saturday evening. So far he seems to be taking to the going in his morning routine -- which has mostly consisted of one circuit jogging followed by a second circuit galloping at bit of quicker clip. On Tuesday, the horse blew out his final 200 meters. "He's 100 percent fit and happy," Parboo said. "He couldn't be doing any better." Giant Ryan, representing the first starter in Dubai for both the trainer and the owner, is probably flying under the radar in the Dubai Golden Shaheen and that's just fine by his connections. Parboo, 72, is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, who went to the United States in 1972. He trains strictly for his family -- son Shivananda and granddaughter Sherry -- though he pointed out when queried on the subject, "I get asked to train for others all the time." As for the different spelling of the surname by father and son, Biznath Parboo explains that when renewing a visa "many years ago," the 'h' was left off. The rest of the family uses the preferred spelling of the name -- Parbhoo. Giant Ryan has provided quite a ride for both owner and trainer. "This is a dream come true," owner Parbhoo said. "It's unbelievable." "Everyone here has treated us so well," trainer Parboo added.
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