Promising three-year-old Stop The Rock collected the fourth win of his five-race career with another irresistible finish in Saturday’s A$150,000 Sportsbet Same Race Multi Handicap (2000m) at Caulfield.
The New Zealand-bred son of El Roca is trained by Patrick and Michelle Payne and kicked off his career with a debut win at Warrnambool on New Year’s Eve. He returned from a freshen up with a fifth at Cranbourne in May, but never looked back from there. He has now strung together three consecutive victories including two Saturday city successes.
Stop The Rock scored stylishly at Swan Hill on June 8 and then again at Flemington on June 21, where he beat next-start Mahogany Challenge Final (2500m) winner Shockletz. Those performances earned strong support for Stop The Rock on Saturday as a $5 second favourite, and he continued his breakthrough campaign.
Ridden by Billy Egan, Stop The Rock settled in second-last among a field of 12 before beginning to warm into his work from the 600m. Egan angled him to the outside at the home turn and he charged home out wide on the track, hitting the lead inside the last 50m and winning by a neck.
“He really needs to build his momentum,” Egan said. “He made a long, sustained run at them the other day.
“They went quick enough today that I was able to come wide and know that if I came with that same sort of run again, they would get tired and he’d be coming over the top of them late. He’s done a really good job.”
Stop The Rock’s five-start, four-win career has netted more than A$214,000 in stakes for his ownership group.
“He’s just answering every question that we’re asking him,” Michelle Payne said. “What a horse. He’s doing it on raceday every time for a great group of owners.
“He started 35-to-one in his first start. He was always very casual in his trials, but Patrick has really liked him as a horse the whole way through. We were just waiting for him to come into his own. He’s doing that now and he’s a beauty. He shows up on raceday, gets the job done with no fuss and is becoming another stable favourite.”
By Westbury Stud stallion El Roca, Stop The Rock is out of the Fusaichi Pegasus mare Shezablonde and stems from the family of Nothin’ Leica Dane.
Stop The Rock is a graduate of the hugely successful New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale, purchased for $75,000 by Patrick Payne from the draft of Westbury Stud. – NZ Racing Desk.
