Wednesday, September 30, 2020 | Dedicated to the Australasian bloodstock industry - subscribe for free: Click here STEVE MORAN | THE INCOMPARABLE AND INDIVIDUAL BILLY PYERS - PAGE 12 Rocket revels in tales of What's on Hong Kong-bound Barocha Metropolitan meetings: Kensington (NSW), Gold Coast (QLD) Plunge landed and money in the bank leads to Douglas parting Race meetings: Ballarat (VIC), Geraldton with Ilovethiscity gelding (WA), Murray Bridge (SA), Canberra (ACT), Tauranga (NZ) Barrier trials / Jump-outs: Scone (NSW), Swan Hill (VIC), Mornington (VIC), Geelong (VIC), Pakenham (VIC), Geraldton (WA), Canberra (ACT) International meetings: Greyville (SAF), Nottingham (UK), Kempton (UK) Sales: Inglis Digital September Sale (NSW) International sales: Goffs Ireland Orby Sales (IRE) GLOBAL SALES DATES 2020/21 Barocha RACING PHOTOS PAGE 16 That insight, backed up by two impressive lead-in to the gelding’s second start at Geelong BY TIM ROWE | @ANZ_NEWS jump-outs against stakes-class horses in late on September 6. he experienced eye of Rodney July, prompted Douglas to have “the biggest Rocket, as he is known to all and sundry, “Rocket” Douglas told the former bet I’ve ever had in my life” when Barocha last owned the gelding with a mate and he had trainer that Barocha (Ilovethiscity) month lined up for his first start. entrusted his nephew, rookie trainer Clayton, was a good horse and a lightning He admitted to nerves leading up to with the then talented but unexposed horse MorningtonT track gallop that was markedly Barocha’s much-talked-about Sale maiden win and the pressure mounted when the owner faster than Group 1 sprinter Santa Ana Lane - he won by five lengths as an odds-on favourite had rejected substantial offers emanating (Lope De Vega) convinced him the gelding may after Douglas took care of the generous opening from Hong Kong following the five-length Sale well be the real deal. prices - and the heart rate went up again in the victory on August 13. Continued on page 2>> ENTER NOW JULY 24 -29 ONLINE SALE ENTRIES CLOSE JULY 22. Featuring broodmares, yearlings and racing stock. FRICatalogue 25TH available at inglisdigital.com - WED 30TH SEPT 2020 INGLIS DIGITAL SEPTEMBER SALE (LATE): SALE LIVE - VIEW HERE Follow us @anz_news | 1 | Brought to you by Rocket revels in tales of Hong Kong-bound Barocha | 2 | Wednesday, September 30, 2020 << Continued from page 1 Another impressive performance at and it wasn’t big enough for me Geelong, on September 6, would up the offers and also boost Barocha’s but Anthony loved it … and that Hong Kong handicapper rating sufficiently. was (Group-placed) King Of Douglas had vowed to accept an offer “too good to refuse” if he made Hastings.” it two from two and Clayton was also in line for a financial windfall. Not long after, Douglas The Barocha story starts years earlier when Douglas shared in the spotted Barocha at the 2018 ownership of another horse by under-rated Victorian stallion Ilovethiscity Inglis Vobis Gold Yearling Sale (Magic Albert). and landed him for just $12,000 “We had a good Ilovethiscity with Tony Vasil a couple of years before from the Rushton Park draft. who never raced,” Douglas recalled yesterday. As King Of Hastings emerged “He went out for a spell, a couple of mates were in him, and then we as an above average sprinter, found him dead in the paddock. Douglas was forced to be patient He had a tumour in his heart. with Barocha. HE WENT OUT FOR A “He could run, so I just kept Tony Vasil did the early SPELL, A COUPLE OF looking at the Ilovethiscitys. work with Barocha but his well- Rodney Douglas SPORTPIX MATES WERE IN HIM, There’s not that many of them publicised disqualification led to AND THEN WE FOUND and the year of Barocha I was the horse changing stables. HIM DEAD IN THE in Adelaide selling yearlings “I was going to give him to Freedman, but I said to Clayton, ‘you may PADDOCK. HE HAD A because I pinhook a couple and as well take this horse and see’ and we got him going and, next minute, he TUMOUR IN HIS HEART I said to Anthony Freedman, was going like a learjet,” he said. ‘come down and have a look at “I still couldn’t believe that when he went to Sale, after his trial, what - RODNEY DOUGLAS this Ilovethiscity’. odds he was. I was like a panther waiting to back him because I’ve got a “We went and looked at it mate who can get on. Continued on page 4>> Updated daily, the information on each stallion includes; top performer, recent race & auction results, upcoming race entries, sire statistics, hypothetical pedigrees with Truenicks Over 36,000+ 400,000 users in sessions Over 2019 5.2m screen views Follow us @anz_news | 2 | Brought to you by IT TAKES ONE TO SIRE ONE There are elements to look for in an athlete – power, agility, speed and strength. Lean Mean Machine’s first foals arriving now. Lean Mean Machine x Shamardal Gold, C. Lean Mean Machine x Fast Hussy, F. STANDING AT AQUIS VIC AQUISFARM.COM JIMMY UNWALA: 0488 217 875 BERNIE KANE: 0472 832 199 BRIAN BYRNES: 0478 010 364 Rocket revels in tales of Hong Kong-bound Barocha | 4 | Wednesday, September 30, 2020 << Continued from page 2 “As soon as the odds came up at $6, I rang him and next minute we were getting $4.20 and it was the biggest bet I’ve ever had in my life.” He continued: “I said he won’t get out of first gear. I’ve seen all these horses like Super Seth and horses like that and that’s how they go when they go to maidens and that’s what he did. “I was around Clayton like a rash. He had some teachers around him before the race, I can assure you, and his uncle was holding his hand at trackwork on fast mornings.” There was no betting at Barocha’s second start, but there was still a lot at stake. “I timed him at the track leading up to those races and I did the trackwork for the papers for many years when I was a kid, so I know the markers.” he said. Toffee Tongue SPORTPIX “I said to Anthony Freedman the morning he worked Santa Ana Lane, ‘that thing of ours has gone two seconds faster than yours the last three “She’s in the Melbourne Cup, so that might be the way she goes, but furlongs’. He said, ‘Well, it won’t be getting beaten’. It was going like a she’s done the job already being a Group 1 winner. She’s an outcross filly, stakes horse.” so you can breed her to anything.” Barocha, of course, won at Geelong, and after further sale negotiations First-up Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra-trained Bobbie Lewis (Gr the money landed on Monday and it was confirmed that John Size would 2, 1200m) winner Zoutori (Zoustar), a horse Munz and his co-owners train the gelding for the Beauty Stable’s Simon and Patrick Kwok in a deal rejected offers for when the gelding was a three-year-old, will race down handled by Australian-based agent, Wattle Bloodstock’s Peter Twomey. the Flemington straight again on Saturday in the Gilgai Stakes (Gr 2, “I don’t know if he’s a Group 1 horse, but the sky’s the limit for him,” 1200m). He is also nominated for the Paris Lane Stakes (Listed, 1400m). Douglas said. “At this stage he’s going to run in the Gilgai, but he’s poorly weighted “But you just couldn’t knock back the money for him as you’ve seen in that race, giving Santa Ana Lane three kilos. He’s badly weighted but what has happened with Rothfire and didn’t they knock back $3 million he’s such a good straight horse,” he said. for Masked Crusader? You could divide him by about five now. There’s “After Saturday, I think Matty and Simon will step him up. He did run Kinane as well, so I know that they can be here today, gone tomorrow. fifth in the Carbine Club and fourth in the Sandown Guineas, so he can “It’s going to make my life a lot easier and I can do all sorts of things run a mile.” with the money and drink happily ever after.” The Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained Southbank (Fastnet Rock), Clayton also received a significant sling for his efforts and his uncle who ran fifth in the Let’s Elope Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) first-up, was third in was more than happy to part with the money. last year’s Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) and Douglas holds the mare He said: “I paid for his new truck. Normally that happens when the in high regard. trainers buy them and things like that, but I said to him that if he can A $1.25 million Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale purchase, being win at Geelong and we can get the deal done for him - I’d knocked back out of Group 3 winner Rezoned (Zabeel), herself a sister to four-time $750,000 for him after his Sale win - then I’d give him ten percent.” winner Preferment, Southbank is nominated for the Rose Of Kingston A few champagnes, justifiably, were consumed on Monday night by Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m). Douglas and his wife Naomi, but it was back to work yesterday managing “She’s had a few issues with her back and things, so they keep her at Munz’s extensive racing portfolio.