Damien Oliver to ride Patrick Ryan-trained Ferago at Caulfield

Ferago, who is in career best form winning three of his last five starts lines up in a $175,000 race over 2400 metres on Saturday.

"It's a shame Jamie can't ride Ferago," the Warrnambool based trainer told The Standard. "Once Jamie was out I decided to get in contact with Ollie and he took the ride.

"We should get a great indication how Ferago is going from Ollie. Ferago has won three of his last five but with a bit of luck he could have won five on the trot.

"We haven't done much work with Ferago since his second placing at Sandown nine days ago. We've taken him down to the beach and he seems to thrive on that sort of work and he just loves the environment out at the farm.

"It's just nice and quiet there and he spends a lot of time just wandering around in the paddock."

The Warrnambool Cup winning trainer said Ferago is destined for a career over the jumps.

"Ferago is a lovely type of jumper," he said. "We've done a bit of schooling with him over the jumps. Ferago may have his first jumps start in a maiden hurdle at Ballarat on August 28.

"It'll all depend how he goes on the flat at Caulfield on Saturday and the feedback we get from Ollie."

Ferago has turned into a bargain basement buy for Ryan. He purchased the five-year-old for $5500 in an on-line sale and Ferago has won more than $80,000 for Ryan and his connections.

Fellow Warrnambool trainers Lindsey Smith, Maddie Raymond, Tom Dabernig and Daniel Bowman also have runners at Caulfield.

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