Octogenarian Ormond Ferraris is the doyen of South African trainers. Never has he had more than 60 horses in his string yet he has a consistently good strike rate and notched the 2500th winner of his illustrious career when Romany Prince staked his claim for the Gr1 SA Classic in the Drum Star Handicap at Turffontein yesterday.
With Anthony Delpech injured, Muzi Yeni did the honours on the only three year old in the race. “The horses in front folded quickly so I just waited until the 200m mark before asking the question,” said Yeni. But by then Romany Prince had built up a winning lead and although Judicial finished with a rattle the race was over a long way out.
Earlier Silver Scooter took Ferraris’s career winning tally to 2499 when outpointing his field in a Pinnacle Stakes event. Captain America was expected to open his Highveld account before defending his crown in the Gr1 WFA HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes but it started as it did last year – in defeat. Brett Crawford’s runner opened 6-10 on course but the writing was on the wall as he proved friendless and eventually jumped easy to back at 11-10.
Captain America was given every chance by Met winning jockey JP van der Merwe but he was misfiring a long way out and did well to finish third as apprentice Callan Murray eased Silver Scooter through off the false rail to win going away.
If not a record, then it must be pretty close to one. Sean Tarry’s winning streak with two-year-old fillies continued as Touching landed the odds in the second taking Tarry’s unbeaten total to seven. Touching, a daughter of Maine Chance Farms-based Querari and a half-sister to the smart Tellina, made short work of the opposition winning by over two lengths.
By Andrew Harrison
