With the Country Championships qualifying heats starting this week all over the regions of NSW bush racing, Greg Ryan will have loads of choices.
That's because he has long been the pin-up, go-to, best-option rider in the bush.
And that's been that way for at least the past 15 years.
At Scone this afternoon he has a full book of good rides....again.
But today may be a little more significant one for him because he needs just two (2) more winners to reach a career high and 2nd best tally ever of 3,500 winners.
I am honoured and very pleased to say (and boast) that five (5) of his current 3,498 winners have been for me. He rode my mare Orchid Spray to three wins about 10 years back, and recently he piloted Jar Of Hearts to successive victories.
At the moment Ryan and his manager wife Pauline, are based at Dubbo and he has always been prepared to travel long miles in order to ride at venues he can win at.
That means he's open to tracks like Dubbo, Wellington, Scone and Tamworth - all of which boast Country Champs heats this year.
I'm pretty certain he'll be on Jar Of Hearts at the Wellington heat on 12 March.
And at Dubbo this Sunday, he rides Coming In Hot for his mate Justin Stanley in the qualifier.
When the CC heats hit Scone, he'll no doubt be on one of Greg Bennett's many major hopes.
But back to today.
He needs just a double, which looks very likely, to be just the 2nd Aussie jockey to hit 3500 winners. Only Robert Thompson OAM has ridden more and Thommo has been riding for 44 years.
Ryan has only been riding for 27 years.
He has Saturday off this weekend, so if per chance he fails to find those two elusive winners today at Scone, he surely will get the milestone at the big Dubbo Showcase meeting on Sunday.