Rock Or Bust Harness 5000 bound

The win today in the Icon Interior Construction Forbury Pacing Cup by Rock Or Bust (Rocknroll Hanover) cemented his place at the top of the harness racing leaderboard in the Four Year Old Entires and Geldings Harness 5000 at Ashburton in a fortnight.

“He’ll go there before he does anything else because we only have two horses eligible for that,” said trainer Amanda Telfer who trains the four year with her brother Steve.

Driver Tim Williams settled Rock Or Bust four back on the inside and had the option to move off the inside running line in the back straight, but chose to stay put and wait for an inside run.

“I was talking to Amy (Tim’s wife) before, and we both abused him for not coming out down the back in front of Macandrew Aviator. He’s the driver and he made the right decision (laughter).”

At the end of the 2200 metres Rock Or Bust was half a length in front of Hacksaw Ridge with a further length and a quarter back to backmarker American Me.

ROCK OR BUST REPLAY

The win was his seventh in just twenty starts.

“He won those three races (in a row) and was a bit unlucky in his next three. He’s quite a nice horse and he’s going to progress towards the Country Cups after that. The grass track will suit him and he seemed to negotiate the standing starts. He should only get better at it.”

Rock Or Bust was bred by Central Otago SBSR breeder Rusty Nevill and sold for $70,000 at the NZB Standardbred Sales in Christchurch in 2022.

The win edged the Telfers closer to the New Zealand Training record of 168 recorded by Roy and Barry Purdon in the 1993-1994 season.

“We’re getting closer and hopefully we can do it over the next couple of weeks.”

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink