Kiwi pair have the big guns in their sights in red-hot Champions Sprint
Levante and Roch ’N’ Horse set to lay down a serious challenge to Nature Strip and Giga Kick
The world’s top-rated sprinter and the fellow Australian speedster who dethroned him in The Everest (1200m) will face off again today in a rematch that has the VRC’s promoters salivating.
But a pair of quiet-achieving New Zealanders will be out to upset the Australian apple cart, as they so often do, as two outstanding sprinting mares look to outstrip the local lads in the $3 million Champions Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) up the Flemington straight six.
Levante (Proisir) and fellow six-year-old Roch ’N’ Horse (Per Incanto) have engaged in repeated fierce duels back home. The former holds the bragging rights there, but not by much.
Levante beat Roch ’N’ Horse into second by three-quarters of a length in the Counties Bowl (Listed, 1100m) at Te Rapa last November, finished second to her seventh in Entriviere’s (Tavistock) Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Ellerslie in January, then downed her by millimetres in Trentham’s Telegraph Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) two weeks later.
But when they crossed the Tasman for their first look at Flemington in March, it was Roch ’N’ Horse who so memorably won the Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m), at 100-1, when she and placegetters The Astrologist (Zoustar) ($61) and September Run (Exceed And Excel) ($26) led a small but determined half-dozen up the rail side and forever into bookies’ hearts.
Levante, meanwhile, scored a meritorious ‘victory’ of sorts herself, coming from the back to finish a length ahead of a grandstand-side XI stocked with favourites such as Home Affairs (I Am Invincible), Lost And Running (Per Incanto), Artorius (Flying Artie) and Masked Crusader (Toronado), and coming fourth overall.
Some juries remain hung over that contest – the rail being found in the space of those 69 seconds to have been far superior to the outside. Yet Roch ’N’ Horse has since proved the rare feat of producing a 100-1 win in a Group 1 was no fluke.
Bred and part-owned by Little Avondale Stud’s Sam and Catriona Williams, and trained from the Ballymore Stables of Pam Gerard in New Zealand and Mike Moroney in Melbourne, Roch ’N’ Horse has had three starts this campaign. After a first-up fourth of six at an unsuitably heavy Caulfield, she showed her liking for the Flemington straight with two seconds – by a nose to Baller (High Chaparral), another rival today, the Bobbie Lewis Quality (Gr 2, 1200m), then beaten two-and-a-quarter lengths in the Gilgai Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) by subsequent Everest runner-up and Nature Strip Stakes (1300m) winner Private Eye (Al Maher).
While Roch ’N’ Horse and Levante share 111 ratings – behind Nature Strip’s (Nicconi) 122 and Giga Kick’s (Scissor Kick) newfound 114 – Roch ’N’ Horse has race fitness behind her. Levante, in contrast, hasn’t run since the Newmarket.
The Ken and Bev Kelso-trained mare required a minor procedure on a leg after that race, but Ken Kelso said there’d been no suitable races in New Zealand for her since then in any case. He’ll be hoping her first-up record – three goes for three wins – holds her in good stead today, the start of another campaign aimed at her home country’s major new year sprints.
He’ll also be hoping his countryman Michael Dee can continue the golden form that’s carried him this spring to top tier victories in the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) on Durston (Sea The Moon) and VRC Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) on Manzoice (Almanzor) when he reunites with Levante, who he rode in the Newmarket.
With her regular rider and Newmarket partner Patrick Moloney suspended, Roch ’N’ Horse, will be steered by Jamie Mott, a 34-year-old also on a high after claiming his first elite-level win earlier in the spring on Callsign Mav (Atlante) in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
The Kiwi mares were rated around $26 apiece last night for today’s weight-for-age contest – behind Nature Strip’s $1.85 and Giga Kick’s $5 – in a race which may echo their Newmarket meeting, given Roch ’N’ Horse has gate six and Levante the second-widest barrier in 13.
There’s a good bit of friendly rivalry between the Williamses and the Kelsos, blessed with two exceptional mares contesting major races at the same time, with Ken Kelso rating his the best he’s had in more than 40 years of training.
Asked what he’d say by way of NZ intel on the quality of Levante, a dual Group 1-winner and only a length behind the mighty Avantage (Fastnet Rock) when third in another, Williams cheekily replied: “She finished two lengths behind our mare in the Newmarket – that’s what I’d say”.
More seriously, either camp would be happy for the other if one can spoil the Nature Strip-Giga Kick rematch and plunder more Australian spoils today.
“The New Zealand product, whether it be the thoroughbred, the jockey or the trainer, has had one of the best springs we’ve seen for a long time,” said Sam Williams, excitedly waiting to board for Melbourne at Auckland airport with Catriona yesterday.
“It’s just a great time for the industry in New Zealand. When you look back, going towards the national sales New Zealand breeding had relied on one main stallion. It was Sir Tristram, then it was Zabeel, then O’Reilly, then Savabeel.
“But now, you can honestly say there’s a number of really exciting sires in New Zealand, including Per Incanto and Proisir. If Levante or Roch ’N’ Horse wins tomorrow, it’d be just fantastic for the New Zealand industry. So we’ll be supporting both, but if ours gets up we’ll be celebrating slightly bigger.”
Few expect to breath Group 1 air when they breed or own racehorses, especially one with as humble a backstory as Roch ’N’ Horse. The first foal of her unraced dam Rochfort (Cecconi) sold for all of $200 as a weanling. The second, a colt by Pins (Snippets), fetched $16,000 as a weanling and was pinhooked for all of $4,000 more. Neither amounted to much.
Then came Roch ’N’ Horse – passed in at a $40,000 reserve in Karaka Book 2. And subsequent to that, Williams sheepishly confirms, the 12-year-old Rochfort now has a yearling by a horse who merely goes by the name of “Little Avondale Teaser Pony” – the result of a farm worker wanting to breed a sport horse. (But that’s enough of that. She’s now in foal to Per Incanto again.)
Proving yet again good horses can come from anywhere, Roch ’N’ Horse has shown her class since surprising most – but not all – in the Newmarket.
“We weren’t expecting to win, of course,” said Williams, who stayed home while Catriona went to Flemington that day, stopping at a pub during a road trip to watch his freakish Melbourne triumph. “But the Moroney-Gerard team were insistent we had a horse who could be very competitive in Australia.
“And before she even ran in the Newmarket, Mike Moroney said, ‘Sam, her times are extremely quick you know?’ He said Roch ’N’ Horse, Levante and Entriviere – they were three top-class horses who could hold their own in Australia.
“The Telegraph was such a close photo, and such a telling race for our girl and Levante. They’re both very good mares. Of course I’m going to be biased, but I think there’s very little between them.
“And now Roch ’N’ Horse has franked the form from the Newmarket, and here we are again, up the Flemington straight which she loves so much. It’s great to have a chance, but it’s a big thrill to just be in it. These are the best sprinters in the world. You’ve got the world champion Nature Strip, and Giga Kick beat him last start. How exciting is this?”
Ken Kelso, who’s trained the likes of Love Dance (Kaapstad) – second in an AJC Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) – Railway Stakes winner Bounding (Lonhro), and Wellington Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Envoy (Personal Escort) – said Levante was in top order after arriving in Melbourne on Wednesday evening.
“She’s very good, travelled over very well,” Kelso told ANZ Bloodstock News. “Mick Dee came and had a trot and canter on her this morning and she was very, very bright.
“It’s a big call to come over here and run first-up in a $3 million race, but she’s got a huge first-up record, albeit not in this class, and her Newmarket run up the straight was a great performance.
“She got on the wrong side of the track that day,” he said of Levante, who could have been sent to either side by Dee from gate 10 of 17. “The grandstand was where all the good horses looked to be, but it didn’t turn out well.
“But we’re drawn out wide again and everyone’s telling me that’s the place to be this time. She’s done the work, and I’m pretty confident we’ve got her right. But we’re just proud to have a horse good enough to go in a race like this.
“I haven’t won a Group 1 in Australia, though I’ve had a few seconds, so I’d like win a Group 1 in Aussie before I retire – and that’s not far away.”