Kiwi raider Roch āNā Horse (NZ) (Per Incanto) made a mockery of those who dismissed the form of New Zealand sprinters, getting under puntersā guards in her stunning 100-1 victory in the Gr.1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on Saturday.
Sporting the colours of Little Avondale Stud, the lightly-raced daughter of Per Incanto had raced without luck in a pair of recent New Zealand Group One assignments and the trans-Tasman stable of Michael Moroney and Matamata training partner Pam Gerard were keen to give the five-year-old mare her chance in the time-honoured sprint.
With the field splitting into two divisions, the far-side provided the first-three home with Roch āNā Horse defeating The Astrologist (Zoustar) and September Run (Exceed and Excel) and providing jockey Patrick Moloney with his first elite-level win.
The New Zealand form held strong with Levante (NZ) (Proisir), who narrowly denied Roch āNā Horse victory in the Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m), clearly the first horse home on the grandstand side where the majority of the field raced.
Moroney said it was nice to land the Newmarket after Group One colt Tivaci, who these days resides at Waikato Stud, was luckless in the prestigious sprint.
āWe were pretty luckless not to win one with Tivaci in his year, he probably should have won. At times it takes a while to get it back and we finally got it back, so thatās great,ā Moroney said.
āItās a great effort by Pam (Gerard) in New Zealand, she sent the horse over here. We gave her a little jump out there and decided to skip the Oakleigh Plate (Gr.1, 1100m), we were here in time to run in it.
āShe settled in well, trialled well and had been pretty luckless not to win a Group One before now really.
āI 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 Iāve seen there that they were.
āWe were always going to get to Australia, it was just a matter of which carnival. We thought this was the right place for her.ā
The winner of four of her 13 starts, the patiently handled mare has now won A$1,037,783 in prizemoney, with the syndicated filly providing a bumper pay-day.
āShe injured herself as a young horse and she didnāt get to the races until she was an older horse. She hasnāt been straight forward but Pam has done a great job with her,ā Moroney said.
An emotional Patrick Moloney was delighted to land his maiden Group One with his fiancƩ Jess on-hand to celebrate.
āItās just massive. I canāt thank everyone enough and the horse today, she was just in the zone,ā Moloney said.
āShe waltzed out of the yard (and) had a strut to her. She was down at the barriers quiet as a lamb and for a horse that I trialled during the week, she was pretty hot. But today, she was so calm and conserved her energy.
āThings couldnāt have worked out any better. I said to Mike early that I thought weād go down to the fence and follow the fence. It is as good as anywhere and 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.
āThe owner, Catriona, you see sheās in a wheelchair. She bred this horse and said that āI wouldnāt have travelled for 48 hours and struggled to get here if I didnāt think it was a chance. That just filled me with confidence.ā
While Catriona Williams of Little Avondale Stud was on-hand at Flemington to welcome back her star, husband Sam watched the race from a pub in Turangi as the Masterton breeder ventured home from the six-day Karaka Sales, which concluded on Saturday.
āLast week with Belluci Babe winning a Group Three in Sydney was unbelievable, but winning a Group One in Australia over 1200m ā youāve got to be kidding me,ā Sam Williams said.
āWe were half-way home from Karaka and stopped at the pub in Turangi to watch the race. The whole pub knew we were there. At the 300m mark when she made her move, we were screaming.
āWe shouted the bar and we were getting out of there before they wouldnāt let us out of the town.
āOne bloke asked us if weād like to buy a house there, so we thought we should be on our way.ā
Williams said it was important that he stayed and saw through the Karaka Sales given the yearling product was two and a half years in the making.
āCat said āSam, weāve got a runner in a Group One at Flemington, one of us has got to goā,ā he said.
āShe had a hell of a trip to get there, she got stopped at customs in Wellington and they werenāt going to let her on the plane due to some documentation.
āShe was the last one on the plane. But she is unbelievable. She is in a wheelchair and had three bags with her, but it doesnāt matter, she gets people to take it for her.ā
The victory was another feather in the cap of the studās proven Street Cry stallion Per Incanto, sire of 23 individual stakes winners, including five at Group One level.
Per Incanto was represented by Lost And Running in the race as well, while he was also champion sire by winners in Hong Kong last season.
āHe has had a wonderful sales series and has never been sex biased ā colts and fillies ā he does it all,ā Williams said.
āPer 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.ā