Rock Empire (AUS)
3 c Deep Field – King’s Ballet by Danehill Dancer
O: Ms K M Patterson, Mr J K Patterson, Ms M Patterson
T: Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott
B: Empire Racing
W: Tab Handicap, 1300m, September 6, Randwick-Kensington
Having indicated his potential with an easy win in a Randwick barrier trial over 1050 metres last month, Rock Empire (Deep Field) lived up to that when he broke his maiden over 1300 metres at Randwick-Kensington.
Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, the colt showed good pace, quickly crossing from his outside barrier in eight to settle outside the leader Wild Flash (Press Statement), travelling at a good tempo.
The three-year-old got the upper hand, dashing clear passing the 200-metre mark before going on to score impressively, beating Wild Flash by two and three-quarter lengths. Matusalem (The Autumn Sun) was another two lengths away in third.
“He’s a really exciting colt and I’d like to thank his breeder Kerrie Patterson for giving him to us to train,” said Adrian Bott.
“He’s always shown ability, but was a big raw colt that has taken time to grow into himself.
“We haven’t planned too far ahead as we just wanted to get past today first, but he’s the sort of colt you would like to aim up at some Black Type races although for now we’ll go through our grades.”
Retained to race by his breeders, Rock Empire is out of the winning Danehill Dancer (Danehill) mare King’s Ballet, making him a brother to dual-winning mare Empress Bea.
In 2021, King’s Ballet produced a filly by Deep Field’s (Northern Meteor) Newgate Farm-based son Cosmic Force. She is called Lunar Lux and, like Rock Empire, was retained by the Patterson family and is training with Waterhouse and Bott.