Roch ‘N’ Horse (NZ) Delivers Kiwi Triumph in Newmarket

Australia’s sprinters have a well-earned reputation as some of the world’s very best, but they were upstaged on their home turf on Saturday as a Kiwi mare conquered one of Melbourne’s premier short-course prizes.

The A$1.5m Group One Yulong Stud Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington was brilliantly won by Roch ‘N’ Horse (NZ) (Per Incanto), who had been offered by breeders Little Avondale Stud with a reserve of only $40,000 at Karaka 2018. From 13 starts in Little Avondale’s colours, she has now picked up four wins and over $1 million in stakes.

Roch ‘N’ Horse had won three races in New Zealand up to Listed level, and she was also beaten by a nose by top-class mare Levante (NZ) (Proisir) in a desperate finish to the Group One Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham in January, which was run in unofficial world-record time.

But her career-defining moment came on the other side of the Tasman on Saturday, in a time-honoured Flemington feature that had been won by only one other New Zealand-trained horse in its 148-year history.

Ridden by Patrick Moloney, Roch ‘N’ Horse was one of just half a dozen horses to move over to the inside rail side of Flemington’s famous ‘Straight Six’ course. But it was on that side that all the action happened in the final 150 metres, with Roch ‘N’ Horse quickening superbly to take command and score by a long neck from The Astrologist (Zoustar) and September Run (Exceed And Excel). Roch ‘N’ Horse’s old Kiwi rival Levante proved to the best on the stands side, finishing strongly from well back for fourth.

“It’s just massive,” said Moloney, who won a Group One race for the first time in his career. “I can’t thank everyone enough, and today the horse was just in the zone.

“She waltzed out of the yard and had a strut to her. She was pretty hot when I trialled her during the week, but today she went down to the barriers as quiet as a lamb. She was so calm and conserved her energy.

“Things couldn’t have worked out any better. We got a beautiful cart on the back of September Run, and I peeled her to the outside early enough, and she just went bang for me.

“The owner, Catriona (Williams, Little Avondale) – you can see she’s in a wheelchair. She bred this horse, and she said, ‘I wouldn’t have travelled for 48 hours and struggled to get here if I didn’t think she was a chance.’ That just filled me with confidence.”

Roch ‘N’ Horse is trained by Mike Moroney, who spends most of his time in Melbourne but still operates stables on both sides of the Tasman. He leaves day-to-day running of his Matamata base in the capable hands of his Kiwi training partner Pam Gerard.

“This is great,” Moroney said. “It’s a great effort by Pam, she sent the horse over here. She settled in well, trialled well and had been pretty luckless not to win a Group One before now.

“I thought the New Zealand sprinters were up to it. A lot of people didn't think they were, but I was pretty sure, with what I’ve seen there, that they were.

“She injured herself as a young horse and she didn’t get to the races until she was older. She hasn’t been straightforward, but Pam has done a great job with her.”

With husband Sam holding down the fort at Karaka, where Little Avondale offered 37 horses across Book 1 and Book 2 this week, Catriona Williams crossed the Tasman to witness Saturday’s historic triumph first-hand.

“Belluci Babe (NZ) (Per Incanto) winning a Group Three in Sydney last week was unbelievable, but winning a Group One in Australia over 1200 metres – you’ve got to be kidding me,” Sam Williams told NZ Racing Desk.

“Cat said, ‘Sam, we’ve got a runner in a Group One at Flemington, one of us has got to go.’ She had a hell of a trip to get there, she got stopped at customs in Wellington and they weren’t going to let her on the plane due to some documentation.

“She was the last one on the plane, but she is unbelievable. She is in a wheelchair and had three bags with her, but it doesn’t matter.”

Roch ‘N’ Horse became the fifth individual Group One winner for Little Avondale’s resident stallion Per Incanto.

“He has never been sex biased – colts and fillies, he does it all,” Williams said. “Per Incanto can really leave a type, and the stallion himself was a very fast horse. He is going to get a big feed when I get home.”

Vendor	Little Avondale Stud
Breeding	Per Incanto – Rochfort
Sale	Lot 974, Karaka 2018 Book 2, Psd (Res $40,000)
Bred by	Little Avondale Trust