GOSFORD STALWART CHASING OVERDUE CITY SUCCESS

HE turned 78 last week, and has only one horse in work.

Gosford’s oldest trainer Neil Ward is seeking his first city winner in goodness knows how long at Royal Randwick on Saturday with four-year-old mare Stratafy.

The lightly-raced daughter of Stratum Star goes to town for the Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1100m), and Ash Morgan has the mount.

And the certainty of a heavy track won’t deter Ward from starting her.

“Stratafy was placed on a heavy track at Scone last August at only her second start,” he said this morning.

“That was her only run on that type of ground, and she needs to go to the races anyway.”

Stratafy scored on soft ground at Gosford on February 22, after which Ward had a throw at the stumps with the then three-year-old filly in his home track’s heat of the Provincial-Midway Championships on March 15.

She ran eighth (beaten only three lengths) in much stronger company, and went for a break.

Stratafy has raced twice since resuming and, after a first-up placing at Wyong on July 5, ran second to Hawkesbury trainer Terry Croft’s Zoutastic in a Class 2 Handicap on July 16 at the Grafton carnival.

“I thought she could win, but we were stiff to run into Zoutastic,” Ward said.

“She then came out and won a Benchmark 82 Handicap (1200m) at the Forbes Cup meeting last Sunday.”

Ward began training at Canterbury when he was 21 and moved to Gosford in the 1980s – and has been there ever since.

He won two Group 1 “miles” with Riverdale in 1984; the Epsom Handicap at Randwick and Ampol Stakes at Flemington. The late Noel Barker was the gelding’s rider on both occasions.

Ward also won the 1986 Warwick Stakes (now the Group 1 Winx Stakes, 1400m run at Randwick) with Riverdale at Warwick Farm when it carried Group 2 status.

Ward has had only three runners in town in the last eight years – Stratafy (sixth in a 1200m Benchmark 72 Handicap for three and four-year-olds at Rosehill Gardens on February 1), and that mare’s older half-brother Emperor Harada (Rosehill in June 2017 and Canterbury in May 2020), and wasn’t certain of his last city winner.

It is the progeny of a mare he used to train – Stratafy and Emperor Harada’s dam War Empress – which kas kept him in the industry, doing what he loves.

Stratafy is War Empress’ fifth foal, and Ward has trained all of them.

He won four races – all at Gosford – with the mare, and five (four of them at Gosford) with her first foal Emperor Harada (by Haradasun), and two (also at home) with her third foal Noble Empress (by Adelaide).

“Shane Lear bred all War Empress’ foals, and her latest (a two-year-old filly by Supido) has just been broken in,” Ward said.

The popular Gosford horseman will be looking forward to training her.

Her full sister Rapid Velocity, now five years of age, was “going to be good” according to her trainer, but suffered a tendon injury and was retired without getting to the races.

. Stratafy was a $13 chance with TAB.com.au on Thursday morning.

Story John Curtis, August 7, 2025 - Pics Bradley Photos