8 September 2008
Queensland trainer John Morrisey is hoping to break his Group 1 Melbourne spring carnival hoodoo this year with exciting three-year-old Rockdale (Danroad x Komplete Kaos, by Desert Sun).Rockdale won the Group 1 A$505,000 T J Smith Classic (1600m) at Eagle Farm in June and will leave for Melbourne on Thursday after an easy win against the older horses at Eagle Farm on Saturday over 1400m in the QTC Hanrickcurran Handicap.Morrisey has had several placings in Group 1 events in Melbourne during the spring previously. These include Camerena (second in the Mackinnon Stakes and Eat Well Live Well Cup) and Lachlan River (third in the Mackinnon Stakes and fifth in the Melbourne Cup).But Group 1 success has eluded him and he’s looking towards Rockdale to put the record straight.“The Melbourne spring carnival is the pinnacle for every trainer in Australasia and I’m looking forward to again having another top horse to take to the carnival in Rockdale,” Morrisey said.“He has matured a lot between his two and three-year-old campaigns,” said Morrisey.“He will be given plenty of time to settle in at Caulfield once he arrives in Melbourne,” he said.Morrisey said he was very impressed with the way Rockdale won last Saturday’s race. “It’s never easy taking on the older horses under handicap conditions but he responded very well once the pressure went on and surprised me how easily he won,” he said.Rockdale will step out in the Group Three Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m) on September 20 before tackling the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) on October 11 and then possibly a tilt at the Tattersalls Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley.Rockdale's sire, Danroad, himself a stakes-winner as a two-year-old, stands at Brent and Louise Gillovic's Highview Stud in Hamilton. He is by Danehill and from the stakes-placed mare Strawberry Girl (Strawberry Road). Rockdale is from Danroad's first crop to race which also includes the stakes-performer Amazing Sky.
