Keane dreaming of Group 1 glory with Crystal
Crystal Black and Colin Keane
© Photo Healy Racing
Gerry Keane is eye some big prizes with Crystal Black in 2025 after a terrific campaign last season.
The Teofilo gelding has proven a revelation since joining the Trim handler and was four from four last term.
His victories included a Royal Ascot success in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes while he ended the campaign with an easy Group 3 victory in the Ballyroan Stakes at Leopardstown.
Keane is dreaming of Group 1 glory with the seven-year-old this year:-
“He’s back in cantering away. He came in weighing 560 kilos and I think when we got him first he was only about 480. He’s a monster!
“If he was sold (to go to Australia) it was a no-brainer with the money that was being offered but when that didn’t happen I didn’t want to go (for the Melbourne Cup) because he had a hard enough season winning the races that he was running in.
“This is another year and he has to improve again.
“If he is good enough to go for a Group 1 then the Tattersalls Gold Cup in the Curragh is probably the race to aim for.
“There is a Group 3 (Alleged Stakes) and a Group 2 (Mooresbridge Stakes) before then.
“I don’t think there is any problem dropping him back to a mile and two and there is no problem going up in trip with him either. We might give him an entry in the Irish St Leger as well.
“He’s just an unbelievable horse for us to stumble across.
“At home he’ll work the same with a 60 rated horse as he would with something a lot better. That’s just the type of horse he is.”
(Quotes by Alan Magee)