Trainer Desleigh Forster continued her outstanding winning strike rate when top sprinter Adebisi made a eye-catching return to racing at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
After Saturday’s meeting, Forster had saddled up 11 winners from her past 18 runners – a winning strike rate of 62 per cent.
Forster, who learned her trade at top trainer Peter Moody’s stables, has had her own operation for the past eight years but this season has been her best.
“I suppose it is a case of putting the horses in the right races,” she said.
“By that I mean races they can win and not races that are too rich for them.”
Adebisi has been the stable star in recent years and will be a dominant force in the $200,000 George Moore Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm on December 8.
Starting a red-hot favorite at $1.50, Adebisi cruised home by three lengths to Seek and Find ($3) with 1-1/2 lengths to Rocket to Glory ($4.60) in third place in the Salt Design Open (1000m).
Most punters were shocked when Rocket To Glory headed Adebisi at the start but Forster said it had been part of a plan.
“We have been trying to teach him to settle in his races and trackwork rider Shaun Cooper has done a lot of the hard work with him,” Forster said.
She said Adebisi would not have another start before the George Moore Stakes and might then head a small team she could take interstate.
Stewards confirmed Adebisi’s run had been first-class because they reported he had quartered his off-side fore heel in the run and dipped at the start.
At the other end of the winning scale was 40-year-old jockey Jason Hoopert who scored his first win at Eagle Farm aboard the $31 chance Mimics in the Coca Cola Amatil Handicap (1600m).
Hoopert was severely injured in a fall at Kilcoy and was out of the saddle for three years before returning earlier this year.
“They told me I would never ride again,” he said.
“I never gave up wanting to ride again and I have had 31 winners since I came back.”
Hoopert mainly rides at the country tracks but intends to seek more city rides after Saturday’s win.
One trainer who hopes Brisbane’s wet weather continues is David Murphy who has noted mudlark Jugahlation ($1.90), the winner of the Paynter Dixon Handicap (1200m).
