Flight booked to New Zealand for Victoria Cup winner

One Cup down and an even bigger one to come for harness racing’s brightest young star Rock N Roll Doo (Rock N Roll Heaven).

Fresh off a dominant, bordering on arrogant win in Saturday night’s (Oct. 8) Group 1 Victoria Cup, the four-year-old is booked on a flight to Auckland on Thursday to chase NZ’s biggest race of any code, the iconic NZ Trotting Cup at Addington on November 8.

The raid has been months in the planning, but Rock N Roll now heads over as one of the leading chances and could challenge for favouritism with a kind barrier draw.

Rock N Roll Doo is trying to become just the second Aussie-trained pacer since My Lightning Blue back in 1987 to beat the Kiwis in their biggest race. The other was Kerryn Manning’s Arden Rooney in 2015.

“He’s going and we can’t wait to get there,” owner Brendan James said. “You can see now why we want to go. He didn’t have to win tonight for us to still head across, we think it’s a race that will really suit him. He’s such a great stayer.”

Trainer-driver Mick Stanley said everything had aligned for Rock N Roll Doo’s NZ raid.

“I think he is quite special and I’ve been telling anyone who would listen that for the past 12 months,” he said.

“He’s just needed time. Mentally it’s all coming together for him now.

“We made the decision to miss the Queensland winter features to set him for these big races at the end of the year.

“He’s now won his past three starts, two of them in really big races without pulling the (ear) plugs and running right through the line.”

Stanley trained former Grand Circuit star Soho Tribeca briefly, but rates Rock N Roll Doo up with him and certainly the best pacer he’s trained “for a chunk of time.”

“We loved him from day one. We had an outstanding two-year-old at the same time called Bar Room Banta. He won two Group 1 races and Rock N Roll Doo would work as well as him at home, but not put it all together at the races,” he said.

Things didn’t go according to plan for Stanley in Saturday night’s Victoria Cup, but Rock N Roll Doo was simply too good.

“I didn’t want to be outside the leader, but he relaxed well and was good enough to still win and win easily,” Stanley said.

“You’ve got to be a special horse to do that. He cruised to the front when I asked him and easily held them off late. He was still really strong on the line and had something left.

“It gives you confidence that if he takes that sort of form to NZ, he’s going to give it (the NZ Cup) a big shake.”

Interestingly, Stanley said it was unlikely Rock N Roll Doo would tackle the upcoming Inter Dominion in his home state.

“You can’t run in everything and he’s still young,” he said. “We’re thinking he’s won this (Victoria Cup), he’s off to NZ and then he could have a break and get ready for the Hunter Cup (February 5).

“It’s a big ask to go to NZ and come back for the Inter Dominion where he’s got to have four runs in a fortnight.

“There’s so many big races after it, like the Hunter Cup and Miracle Mile.”

Joining Rock N Roll Doo on Thursday’s flight to NZ will be defending NZ Cup hero Copy That, who ran a solid fourth in the Victoria Cup.

It was a promising sign after Copy That’s health scare with a minor bleed when fifth in the Smoken Up Sprint a week earlier.

by Adam Hamilton, for News Corp