The lavish platter that was delivered last week to Moorak couple Mel Freitag and Jason Newman came as a real surprise.

As it turns out, the sender had been Melbourne-based Sarah Cole, the new owner of retired racer Rock It Fernando who finished his 52 starts racing career earlier this year in Mount Gambier with six wins over three distances at Tara Raceway.

With his racing days behind him, Rock It Fernando had been out at Moorak for three months, Cole recently answering an advertisement placed by the brindle dog’s previous owner Tim Aloisi looking to place him as a pet.

“We sent him over to Melbourne with a collar, lead and rug, etc. And Sarah had been so appreciative of the help she had received in regard to ‘Rocky’ that she had platters sent to us and also to Tim,” Newman said.

The local couple brought their platter along to last week’s Tara Raceway meeting to share with patrons and participants.

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