The owners of Warrnambool-trained Oliveanotherday have knocked back substantial offers from overseas interests for their emerging sprint star.
The Tom Dabernig-trained three-year-old took his record to five wins from seven starts with a resounding victory in the $200,000 listed Wangoom Handicap at Warrnambool this month.
Top sprinter Grey Sapphire in 1979 was the last three-year-old to win the prestigious sprint.
Dabernig said the phone had been running hot with offers since Oliveanotherday’s Wangoom win.
“It’s fair to say there’s been a lot of interest,” he said. “The offers have been pretty substantial — mainly from overseas but there’s been a couple from Australia that have asked questions. 
“He’s been a horse of interest since he won a couple of trials then his maiden at Geelong in September last year. 
“The offers have got bigger and bigger, and they went to another level after the Wangoom. 
“The owners have no intention of selling Oliveanotherday — they just want to race him.”
Oliveanotherday has headed to the spelling paddock off his impressive Wangoom win.
“We decided to send him for a month’s break,” Dabernig said. “He deserved it. 
“He’ll come back into work with the early spring-carnival sprints on his radar. 
“He’s got a very good record and we don’t want to rush him. 
“I’m confident there’s more improvement in him. 
“I’m sure he’ll end up running out a strong 1400 metres with a bit of time.”
Oliveanotherday took his stake earnings to $286,610 with his Wangoom win.
Inherently good
Inherently has been a bargain buy for Tower Hill trainer Pat McKenna, and the fairytale continued in last Sunday’s $60,000 Casterton Cup (2000m). 
Inherently took his record to four wins from 13 starts for McKenna with his victory as $2.50 favourite at Casterton. 
The win came hot on the heels of Inherently’s success in a $50,000 benchmark 66 at Warrnambool’s May carnival.
McKenna parted just $2750 for Inherently in an online sale in August 2024. The lightly raced five-year-old has gone on to collect more than $130,000 in stakes.
Small bonus
Warrnambool trainer Patrick Ryan rewarded jumps jockey Daniel Small for years of hard work with the winning ride on Ferago in a maiden hurdle at Casterton last Sunday.
Ferago came from well back in the field to score an impressive win at his jumps debut.
Ryan said Small had played a vital role in Ferago’s development as a jumper.
“Daniel is a great worker,” Ryan said. “He fronts up every morning. He’s done that for a few years. 
“He’s got a great understanding of Ferago. He’s ridden him in a lot of work and schooled him over plenty of jumps. 
“We’ve always had a good opinion of Ferago’s jumping ability. It’s always been a matter of when and where we start his jumping career. 
“He’s always shown ability on the flat and another bonus is he loves wet tracks.”
Ferago picked up $21,450 for Sunday’s win, taking his prizemoney bank to $647,250 from 58 starts.
Symon sweeps features
Symon Wilde’s plan to target the jumps races at Sunday’s Casterton meeting paid dividends when he won the two jumping features.
Golden Garden took out the $80,0000 open steeplechase while Enchanted Elle won the $50,000 handicap hurdle.
Wilde says the Casterton meeting is a highlight on his calendar each year.
“We love bringing horses up to this meeting, especially some of our jumpers,” he said. “It’s a great country race meeting and the local community gets behind it. 
“I was quietly confident our two would be hard to beat. 
“Golden Garden schooled over the fences here earlier in the week and went well. It was all about giving him a look around over the bigger fences. 
“Enchanted Elle has a great record over the hurdles at Casterton. 
“There’s some nice jumping races coming up for both horses in coming weeks but we’ll just see how they pull up out of Sunday’s race.”
The Wilde-trained El James ran third behind Inherently in the Casterton Cup.
Black-booker
Gripping: He rated a mention in this column last week following his second placing at the Warrnambool carnival, and the Peter Lafferty-trained galloper followed up with an unlucky second at Casterton last Sunday. Don’t drop off him — a win is just around the corner, and a jumps career further down the track.