Impressive Rock Rolls On
28 April, 2018
Harness
Its Rock And Roll has stamped himself as a key contender for the remainder of this year’s feature two-year-old races, producing a dominant display in the Group 2 Champagne Classic at Gloucester Park last night.
The Rocknroll Dance gelding, who drew perfectly in gate one, was a $1.28 favourite with TABtouch at closing time, after producing a gallant performance when second behind Bletchley Park at Pinjarra on Monday.
Trained and driven by Colin Brown, Its Rock And Roll had a relatively cosy time leading the race on the first two circuits, with Sangue Reale on his outside, and second favourite Itz All About Magic on the fence behind him.
On the final lap, Sangue Reale loomed up to Its Rock And Roll, while Amadeo quickly moved up three-wide for Luke Edwards and got on level terms with the favourite.
However, the pair couldn’t sustain their runs, as Its Rock And Roll pulled away in the home straight to win by three metres.
Itz All About Magic was able to get clear running and finished second, while Valbonne ran on well to finish third.
Managing part owner of Its Rock And Roll Jim Currie said the gelding was not yet a finished product.
“The horse is still very green,” he said.
“He is a very nice horse, but as you saw he nearly got caught napping.
“It’s only his fifth start, so it’s on to better things.”
Currie said Its Rock And Roll would now target the Golden Slipper, and the lucrative Westbred finals night in June.
Elsewhere on the night, Detroit Lily made it two wins in a row, taking out the final WA Oaks Prelude (2130m), ahead of next week’s Group 1 WA Oaks.
The filly was well poised to strike on the final lap, and she showed too much dash for her rivals, coming away to win by 1.5m.
Liberty Rose finished second, while Miss Sangrial finished third and showed she was still on target for next week’s feature.
Our Angel Of Harlem was beaten more than 20m back in seventh, but did have to work hard three-wide at some stages throughout the race.
The other of the feature races on the night was the Listed Johnson Final for the mares, and it was taken out by the Nathan Turvey-trained Chevrons Champion, who was also able to lead all of the way from gate one.
Tim Walker