When Patrick Ryan bought Ferago online last spring, it wasn’t because he thought he’d found an untapped stayer who could keep the till ticking over at Sandown in winter.
The trainer from Grassmere, near Warrnambool, paid $5500 for the seven-start maiden, who was previously trained by James Fraser, with a view to a jumping career.
The son of Fiorente will end up on the jumps circuit, but right now he is being given the chance to cash in on a purple patch of form in flat staying races, which includes Wednesday’s $50,000 Ladbrokes Money Back Odds BM70 Handicap (2400m) at Sandown.
“We bought him primarily as a jumper and he has trialled up nicely over the jumps but either the maturity of the jumps has brought him on and he’s been a pleasant surprise really,” Ryan said.
“He always had great cardiovascular (ability) but he was a little bit of a pest in the brain and I think halfway through the preparation he just started to relax and became a really enjoyable horse to deal with and then I think that’s when his form improved.”
Ferago has already earned $72,900 in seven starts since joining Ryan.
After finishing fourth at his first two starts for the stable, over 1700m and 2209m, he ran seventh when dropping back to 1700m before stringing together three wins in a row, all at Geelong.
Victory in a 2470m maiden highweight was followed by BM58 and BM64 wins over similar distances.
The five-year-old narrowly missed out on making it four-straight at Sandown on June 29 when nailed on the line by Hereforagoodtime after a wide run.
The Peter Gelagotis-trained mare is again a rival on Wednesday, with Ferago meeting Hereforeagoodtime 2kg better for last start and with the likelihood of a more favourable run from barrier five in the smaller field of eight, Ryan is confident of turning the tables.
“I want to keep him up right through the winter, so I deliberately don’t do any galloping in between runs and when he’s really begging for a gallop that’s when he goes to the races,” Ryan said.
“So he’s not going backwards – he’s definitely not over the top – he’s right to the mark I’d say.
“With the harder run we had last start and the weight difference, mathematically you’d say he would have a couple of lengths up his sleeve on her, but sometimes one plus one doesn’t equal two in racing but hopefully it does on this occasion.”
Ferago and Hereforagoodtime dominate TAB’s market on Wednesday’s race with Ferago $2.40 favourite and Hereforagoodtime $2.60.
