Trainer Patrick Ryan has felt the exhilaration of winning his hometown Cup and would like to feel that again when Ferago runs at Warrnambool.
Ryan won the first Warrnambool Cup after it achieved Listed race status in 2008 with Video Star winning the 2350m race.
What made the victory even sweeter was the mare was ridden by his cousin Sam Hyland.
Ferago runs for Ryan in Thursday’s flat feature looking to gain a better result than his two fourth place finishes achieved in the past two runnings of the Warrnambool Cup.
“It’s always good to win the local Cup,” Ryan said.
“The first one was when my cousin rode it, so that will always be special, while this bloke has run fourth in the past two years, so it would be good if he could go a few spots better.”
Now a nine-year-old, Ferago goes into Thursday’s race having had a different preparation than in previous years.
A dry summer and autumn has meant Ryan has kept the gelding away from the racetrack and instead Ferago has had his fitness levels increased by going around in hurdle schools where the tracks must have some give.
Ryan said at some stage Ferago was likely to race over jumps, but while the gelding still has the ability on the flat, he will chase another one or two victories.
“He probably deserves a win in one of these sorts of races,” Ryan said.
“He’s run plenty of top fours, like in a Geelong Cup, twice in this, second in a Sandown Cup, third in a Herbert Power Stakes, so it would be nice if he could win one before he retires.
“He’s a real wet-tracker and the tracks have been too firm, so we decided instead of racing him on the firm tracks we would give him some hurdle trials to build his fitness with an eye of giving him a few hurdle runs later in the year.
“His flat form has been too good for going over the jumps.
“He’s won $625,000 since we’ve had him and so long as he kept performing on the flat, we stayed away from the jumps, but he’s rising 10 now, and if he continues, he’ll probably go jumping and mix it up on the flat.”
Ryan said the Sandown Cup (3200m) at the end of May and a VOBIS Gold race over 2400m at Caulfield in July could be up his alley, provided the tracks are soft, while there are a number of jumps races he could go to.
“He’s an incredibly sound horse and loves being in work,” Ryan said.
“He’s always been on the fringe of being a top horse, but just never been able to get there.
“There were times, like when he ran third in the Herbert Power Stakes, we thought that he could go to the next level, but he just struggled to make the jump into that next grade.
“He was a $5000 Inglis on-line purchase, so he been good for Joe Pace and myself who own him.”
The Warrnambool Cup is the flat feature on the final day of the three-day carnival with the Grand Annual Steeplechase the main attraction.
The Grand Annual is Australia’s longest, and toughest race, run over 5500m and 33 jumps.
