Ferraris is remembered
· Citizen
The horse racing business moves along at a gallop, allowing little time for thoughtful assessment and reflection – especially in big-race season.
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The hurry-up is catchy, too. A few days ago, we were hit by publication of leader logs for the annual Equus Awards in August, before many of the country’s biggest races have been run.
(See It Again tops the Horse of the Year log, yet he is not even contesting the country’s biggest race, the Hollywoodbets Durban July. Go figure, as the Yanks would say.)
However, it would be remiss not to pause to record a sad week in the history of the racing game in South Africa.
Two significant things happened: the death of doyen of trainers Ormond Ferraris and the warning-off of former champion jockey S’manga Khumalo for 10 years for shady shenanigans.
The making of a legendary trainer
First things first. There is old skool and then there’s old school. Veteran trainer Mike de Kock might fall into the former category, but he is a callow youth alongside Ferraris – indeed, MdK learnt a lot of his early trade at the old man’s knee.
Ferraris was born in 1932 and was bewitched by thoroughbreds early on, riding work and becoming an assistant trainer at Turffontein in 1950.
A press release last week said: “Mr Ferraris took out his licence and started training under his own name in May 1954, saddling his first winner, Shenandoah, at Gosforth Park on 14 August of that year.
“He trained out of Newmarket, the Vaal and finally Turffontein (where he occupied the same barn for 40 years), forging a reputation as one of South Africa’s most respected trainers, loyal to his horses and loyal to his owners, who repaid him in kind.”
Equally respected and feared
People who worked closely with him all speak of his generosity and kindness, but, over the decades, fellow trainers at Turffontein were rather scared of him, to be truthful.
He didn’t suffer fools gladly and was rightly suspicious of anyone he didn’t know well. (Racing is full of chancers; “not serious people”, as the TV series, Succession, put it.)
Those neighbouring trainers were chuffed to get what became known as the “one-finger” as the elder statesman (always “Mr Ferraris”) lifted a digit from his steering wheel in passing greeting as he drove through the training complex on his way to the gallops.
Lasting legacies
Ferraris let deeds do the talking: 10 SA Oaks victories, eight Derbies, two national trainer championships, Summer Cup and Triple Tiara successes – all from a string of never more than 60 horses.
Perversely, he’s well remembered in some quarters for a horse that placed second, distinctly, in the controversial finish to the 1975 Durban July.
Ferraris’ legacy has been evident in the success of his trainer son David and grandson Luke, who rides in Hong Kong.
He handed in his licence in 2019 after 2 600 career winners. He died aged 94 on 10 June, surrounded by his family