Matahga storms home for come-from-behind victory in Oaklands Plate at Morphettville Parks
Phillip Stokes has unearthed another exciting youngster after Matahga produced a huge come-from-behind win to nail Saturday's Listed David Peacock Oaklands Plate at Morphettville Parks.
Hard ridden, 10 lengths off the lead turning for home, Matahga, showed his class edge, reeling in Hayes-trained fancy Ethereum Girl as he charged home in the final 50m.
It saw Stokes claim back-to-back Oaklands Plates, after the stable won last year's race with SA Derby winner Femminile.
'He's a nice colt this horse, (he) dug deep, he's come a long way this prep,' Stokes said.
'Kerrin and Tommy have done a fantastic job with him, he'll go for a break now, I think he deserves to be aimed some of the nicer races in the spring.'
The win was the first of a race-to-race double for jockey Jacob Opperman, who nailed a brilliant treble on the program with other wins aboard Test The Law and Fiasco Tess.
The hoop elected to save ground aboard Matahga, navigating traffic rather than peeling to the outside. It left Stokes with his heart in mouth momentarily, but it proved to be the right rein.
Matahga digs deep for a stirring come-from-behind victory at Morphettville Parks to make it back-to-back wins ðŸ'¥ @pstokesracing picks up a Morphettville Parks double ✌ï¸� @JOpperman15 pic.twitter.com/UCUIFfUdWo
— Racing.com (@Racing) June 28, 2025
'We were sort of cursing him there for awhile, we thought maybe he should have went around them, but he rode it very well,' he said.
'He'll take a lot out of it this colt, he's a nice horse going forward, I'm just rapt for the Brook's family.'
Paul Trenwith pulled off an upset win with Ginger Sinner early on, the Morphettville trainer bought the gelding for $15,000, and has now nailed two wins from five starts with him, most notably Saturday's Benchmark 72 (1250m) over stakes winner Colmar.
The son of Castelvecchio jumped at $21 with Sportsbet, and was guided to the line under promising apprentice Caitlin Tootell.
The roughies continued their dominance in the following race, with Left Turn Clyde charging home to produce a blowout result at $27 over 1000m.
It's a grandstand finish at Morphettville Parks! ðŸ'¸
Left Turn Clyde storms home from a long way back to get across the line first for his second win this season ðŸ'° @mattLchadwixk pic.twitter.com/m4eKcLwijc
— Racing.com (@Racing) June 28, 2025
The Stuart Gower-trained gelding jumped awkwardly to find himself well back, before in-form hoop Matthew Chadwick worked his way through the field, piercing a gap at the 100m.
Left Turn Clyde nosed out rivals Madam Jeanette and Rich Gina in a three-way go on the line.
Sir Now once again showed his will to win, the tough gelding hunted down Beast Mode to nail a Benchmark 80 over 1000m, his seventh win from 13 starts for Karoonda handler Darryl Hewitt.
Six of those wins have been under the steering of talented apprentice Maggie Collett, who piloted the gelding again on Saturday.
The day belonged to Opperman, however, who was unrivalled in the saddle with his three winners, while the Stokes yard were the dominant stable with two wins, with Nicish also saluting in the opening race.
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