Classy Rocanto will go places
ROCANTO might have held only a rapidly closing short neck margin over Selfie at the finish of yesterday’s $50,000 Slipper at Matamata but his connections are excited at the amount of improvement still in the horse.
Trainer Stephen Marsh, rider Mark du Plessis and owners’ agents Bryce and Ginger Tankard all stressed that the best would not be seen of the Per Incanto colt until next season.
‘‘He’s a good horse and he’ll only get better,’’ Marsh said after Rocanto raced just behind the speed all the way, claimed leader Element soon after turning for home, then staved off a fast late run by the Karaka Million runner-up, clocking a fast 1:10.28 for the 1200 metres.
‘‘We thought, and still do, that he should be unbeaten this preparation’’’ Marsh said.
‘‘He might have had a couple of soft wins and may have looked disappointing in his first big assignment (sixth in the Eclipse Stakes at Ellerslie) but that’s the real horse out there today.
‘‘You can totally wipe that Auckland race, it was a total disaster,’’ Marsh said of the task set by rider James McDonald, who had the horse working hard all the way.
Marsh said Rocanto had been faultless since and he was glad he held off on his plan to fit side winkers to the horse as he had raced and relaxed beautifully yesterday.
‘‘We thought we’d take bad luck out of the equation today and ride him forward because we knew Selfie would get back,’’ Marsh said.
The tactics worked to a tee and Du Plessis said he was happy riding Rocanto close to the action
Two in a row: Rocanto makes it two from two in the Slipper at Matamata yesterday. as the horse was so laid back he might have switched off if he’d been further back in the running.
‘‘He’s not there yet this horse, there’s a lot of improvement in him.’’
Bryce Tankard, who helped negotiate the deal to buy Rocanto before his debut, said new owner Ken Lau had listened to yesterday’s race in Hong Kong and was thrilled with the result.
The win, Rocanto’s third from only four starts, doubled his bankroll to $61,635 and served notice of bigger things to come.
Marsh said he now had to decide whether that would be in the $200,000 Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie on March 4 or the $225,000 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes at Awapuni (1400m) on March 28.
Trainer Richard Collett has Selfie on the same path, buoyed by his big late run in his first run for a month.