ALL HAIL ROCH 'N' HORSE

Believe it or not, there were some who thought Roch ‘N' Horse was favoured by conditions to win the Newmarket Handicap in March but Mike Moroney said the six-year-old showed that success was no fluke in the tougher weight-for-age Champions Sprint today.

"We knew it was no fluke, the Newmarket, and we were happy to take them on today," Moroney said after Roch 'N' Horse and Jamie Mott had edged Nature Strip to score.

"A great performance by all my staff and my vets because she's not the easiest at times but she's a very good mare.”

Roch ‘N' Horse added to Moroney's collection of big-race wins at Flemington, where he prepares his team from his Ballymore Stables in New Zealand.

"This has been a great track to me," Moroney said. "I've won a couple of Derbies, an Oaks, the Melbourne Cup, a couple of Newmarkets down the straight.

"We've won most of the Group 1s here and it has been a great track for me. I think it is the best track in the world."

A trip to Royal Ascot could now be a possibility for dual Group 1 winner.

Nick Smith, the Director of Racing at Ascot, was at Flemington and immediately put it to Moroney that Roch ‘N’ Horse could follow the successful trail of other Australian sprinters at Royal Ascot.

“We had a word to Nick Smith and he was keen to get us there. That’s something we’ll throw around as an idea,” Moroney said.

“She’ll have this season to race and then she will probably go to stud. I think it would depend on what happens in the breeding barn but we’d like to go.”

The race Roch ‘N’ Horse would be likely to tackle would the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes run over six furlongs on the final day of the Royal meeting on June 23.

Miss Andretti and Black Caviar are the only other mares to have won the VRC Champions Sprint this century and they both tasted success at Royal Ascot.

Snapper rounded out the meeting with a strong win in the final race of the carnival.

“The scratchings helped but the horse himself did a good job to win,” Mike said. "It's been a good carnival for us, Emissary ran so well in the cup and now a double today so a good result for the stable which is satisfying."