ROCKING EAGLE TO DEBUT ON SUNDAY

Quail Hollow and Rocking Eagle are two nice young horses heading to Bairnsdale for us on Sunday.

Rocking Eagle (pictured) makes his debut in race one, the 3yo Maiden Plate over 1200m and jumping from barrier five in the field of 14.

Mike Money said the son of Zoustar is a work in progress.

“He’s still learning his trade a bit,” Moroney said. “It’s mental rather than physical but he’s getting better with practice and he’s ready to go to the races.

“He’s shown us ability in his work and jumpouts and if he can cope with it all then I expect him to run well.

“The draw suits, especially at this track, so all things being equal I think he can run well and improve with the experience.”

Quail Hollow runs in race two, the Maiden Plate over 1600m with Michael Dee in the saddle and jumping from barrier two.

It is the second time at the races for the son of Toronado, who showed promise at his debut when making ground to finish seventh over 1400m at Cranbourne last month.

“He’s improved a lot for the debut experience, both physically and mentally,” Moroney said. “He’s really starting to work it all out and he’s always shown me nice ability.

“It doesn’t look the strongest race and I’m expecting him to go close to winning if things fall his way.

“The one little query I have with this race is the barrier - I don’t really want to dig him out to hold a spot as the one time we did that with him in a jumpout he didn’t relax and ideally I’d like to see him just relax here and settle into a rhythm.”