Run in honour of one of our greatest trainers of all time, the R150 000 non-black type Ormond Ferraris Oaks Trial provided an easy winner for the proven combination of Muzi Yeni and Robbie Sage as the progressive Poplar Park enjoyed her biggest pay day to date.
Poplar Park (Muzi Yeni) enjoyed her biggest pay day to date today at Turffontein (Pic – JC Photos)
4Racing decided to honour the legendary conditioner after his retirement in in 2019, and even though the 2000m contest has dropped in status over the years, the race is still a reminder of a no-nonsense horseman who boasted an extraordinary record the SA Oaks and SA Derby. He won the Oaks ten times and the Derby eight times!
Mr Ferraris took out his trainer’s licence in 1952 and finally retired in May 2019. In 2016 he trained his 2500th winner when Romany Prince won the Listed Drum Star Handicap. His last SA Oaks winner was Cherry On The Top in 2013. Owned by the late Bridget Oppenheimer, the daughter of Tiger Ridge scooped the Wilgerbosdrift SA Triple Tiara with that victory.
While there were no such illustrious stars in Saturday’s ten horse line-up, the opening leg of Jackpot 1 produced an entertaining contest after a shaky start that that saw Cocomelon unseat Serino Moodley just prior to the gates being sprung, before being passed fit to run.
After the daughter of Willow Magic was cleared to run, the eventual start saw Ruby Rebel and Silver Parasol dig their toes in and lose many lengths.
The favourite Queen Of Love led for a long way, before being swallowed up by the strong finishing Poplar Park (7-2) who went on to beat Cocomelon (7-1) by 2,40 lengths in a time of 127,60 secs for the 2000m.
The 100-1 Fetching Flyer boosted the trifecta, a further length back with Key Worker (5-1) capping the quartet.
The favourite Queen Of Love faded out of the money, while the slow starters never gave their supporters a run for their money, and filled the last two places.
Bred by the Tawny Syndicate, the winner is a daughter of unheralded Western Winter stallion Last Winter out of the twice-winning Judpot mare, Ruler Of The Sky.
Last Winter has no progeny on the forthcoming big sales.
A R40 000 November 2yo Sale graduate, Poplar Park took her tally to 3 wins and 2 places from 7 starts for stakes of R254 500.
