Holmes sweeps Oak Park meeting

By Jordan Gerrans

Veteran Mareeba trainer Allan Holmes enjoyed a weekend for the history books at Oak Park as he was perfect from four starters.

Across the popular two-day Oak Park Race Club meeting on Friday and Saturday, Holmes took four runners to the races and returned home with an unblemished record.

For a relatively small stable on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland, it was an extraordinary achievement to go four from four across 24 hours.

Secret Cypher and A Little Xtra started the winning ways on the Friday program before Bella Bianca and Miss Boho Fashion brought it home in style on the Saturday.

To put the feat into perspective, Holmes prepared just four winners between July of last year and June of 2026 before matching that tally in a single weekend.

“I don't think it would happen too often for any trainer,” Holmes said of the winning spree.

“Absolutely ecstatic, we were. I certainly didn't expect that. We really thought Bella Bianca would go well, but other than that, we were just hopeful.

“But, to get the four up was exciting and we were over the moon. They all pulled up extremely well, so that's the other good thing.”

The 76-year-old Holmes prepares a barn of nine at Mareeba and is a former president of the local club.

The Oak Park meeting is one of the highlights of the North Queensland racing calendar as the track is based almost five hours inland from Townsville and Cairns.

“The horses had all been working well, but it's a hard track out there after a few hours travel,” Holmes said.

“They really performed well. The jockeys, every horse was ridden extremely well, so that's a big part of it, the jockeys really performed for us.”

Townsville hoop Ivo Fry and Mareeba jockey Rachel Shred delivered the Saturday winners for Holmes.

Consistent mare Bella Bianca grabbed the fifth win of her career at Laura last month.

Prior to the Oak Park meeting, Holmes thought Bella Bianca, who is a six-year-old sprinter, was his best winning chance across the two-day carnival.

“She was in the last race of the two days,” Holmes said.

“So, we thought she was our best hope and when we got there, we already had three winners.

“She backed up week after week from Laura and won both of them. She likes the hard, fast tracks.

“She got both at Laura and at Oak Park, so we thought she was our best chance and sure enough, she saluted.

“But, the others all stepped up to the plate, as well.”

Secret Cypher and A Little Xtra were both dominant winners on Friday, scoring by more than two lengths.

Of the quartet of Oak Park winners, Holmes says he will give them all a quick freshen-up before he decides on their next assignments.

As for the remainder of his barn, the Mareeba mentor thinks Zig Zag Torque looks capable of breaking her maiden in the near future.

Zig Zag Torque has been placed in her last two efforts for the FNQ stable after being moved on by Matthew Dunn at Murwillumbah.

The three-year-old filly will head to Cairns later this month.

“She is a lovely little filly by Pierata, who we bought very cheaply online,” he said.

“We've got high hopes that she'll go well in Cairns in a couple of weeks.

“She put two nice runs together for us, so we're hopeful that she'll run on nicely.”

The feature race of the Oak Park meeting was the Lyndhurst Shield, which was claimed by trainer Janel Ryan and hoop Fry with galloper Kirkall.

The Lyndhurst Shield offered attractive prizemoney of $31,500 this year.