Rocket revels in tales of Hong Kong-bound Barocha
Plunge landed and money in the bank leads to Douglas parting with Ilovethiscity gelding
By Tim Rowe
The experienced eye of Rodney “Rocket” Douglas told the former trainer that Barocha (Ilovethiscity) was a good horse and a lightning Mornington track gallop that was markedly faster than Group 1 sprinter Santa Ana Lane (Lope De Vega) convinced him the gelding may well be the real deal.
That insight, backed up by two impressive jump-outs against stakes-class horses in late July, prompted Douglas to have “the biggest bet I’ve ever had in my life” when Barocha last month lined up for his first start.
He admitted to nerves leading up to Barocha’s much-talked-about Sale maiden win – he won by five lengths as an odds-on favourite after Douglas took care of the generous opening prices – and the heart rate went up again in the lead-in to the gelding’s second start at Geelong on September 6.
Rocket, as he is known to all and sundry, owned the gelding with a mate and he had entrusted his nephew, rookie trainer Clayton, with the then talented but unexposed horse and the pressure mounted when the owner had rejected substantial offers emanating from Hong Kong following the five-length Sale victory on August 13.
Another impressive performance at Geelong, on September 6, would up the offers and also boost Barocha’s Hong Kong handicapper rating sufficiently.
Douglas had vowed to accept an offer “too good to refuse” if he made it two from two and Clayton was also in line for a financial windfall.
The Barocha story starts years earlier when Douglas shared in the ownership of another horse by under-rated Victorian stallion Ilovethiscity (Magic Albert).
“We had a good Ilovethiscity with Tony Vasil a couple of years before who never raced,” Douglas recalled yesterday.
“He went out for a spell, a couple of mates were in him, and then we found him dead in the paddock. He had a tumour in his heart.
“He could run, so I just kept looking at the Ilovethiscitys. There’s not that many of them and the year of Barocha I was in Adelaide selling yearlings because I pinhook a couple and I said to Anthony Freedman, ‘come down and have a look at this Ilovethiscity’.
“We went and looked at it and it wasn’t big enough for me but Anthony loved it … and that was (Group-placed) King Of Hastings.”
Not long after, Douglas spotted Barocha at the 2018 Inglis Vobis Gold Yearling Sale and landed him for just $12,000 from the Rushton Park draft.
As King Of Hastings emerged as an above average sprinter, Douglas was forced to be patient with Barocha.
Tony Vasil did the early work with Barocha but his well-publicised disqualification led to the horse changing stables.
“I was going to give him to Freedman, but I said to Clayton, ‘you may as well take this horse and see’ and we got him going and, next minute, he was going like a learjet,” he said.
“I still couldn’t believe that when he went to Sale, after his trial, what odds he was. I was like a panther waiting to back him because I’ve got a mate who can get on.
“As soon as the odds came up at $6, I rang him and next minute we were getting $4.20 and it was the biggest bet I’ve ever had in my life.”
He continued: “I said he won’t get out of first gear. I’ve seen all these horses like Super Seth and horses like that and that’s how they go when they go to maidens and that’s what he did.
“I was around Clayton like a rash. He had some teachers around him before the race, I can assure you, and his uncle was holding his hand at trackwork on fast mornings.”
There was no betting at Barocha’s second start, but there was still a lot at stake.
“I timed him at the track leading up to those races and I did the trackwork for the papers for many years when I was a kid, so I know the markers.” he said.
“I said to Anthony Freedman the morning he worked Santa Ana Lane, ‘that thing of ours has gone two seconds faster than yours the last three furlongs’. He said, ‘Well, it won’t be getting beaten’. It was going like a stakes horse.”
Barocha, of course, won at Geelong, and after further sale negotiations the money landed on Monday and it was confirmed that John Size would train the gelding for the Beauty Stable’s Simon and Patrick Kwok in a deal handled by Australian-based agent, Wattle Bloodstock’s Peter Twomey.
“I don’t know if he’s a Group 1 horse, but the sky’s the limit for him,” Douglas said.
“But you just couldn’t knock back the money for him as you’ve seen what has happened with Rothfire and didn’t they knock back $3 million for Masked Crusader? You could divide him by about five now. There’s Kinane as well, so I know that they can be here today, gone tomorrow.
“It’s going to make my life a lot easier and I can do all sorts of things with the money and drink happily ever after.”
Clayton also received a significant sling for his efforts and his uncle was more than happy to part with the money.
He said: “I paid for his new truck. Normally that happens when the trainers buy them and things like that, but I said to him that if he can win at Geelong and we can get the deal done for him – I’d knocked back $750,000 for him after his Sale win – then I’d give him ten percent.”
A few champagnes, justifiably, were consumed on Monday night by Douglas and his wife Naomi, but it was back to work yesterday managing Munz’s extensive racing portfolio.
Valuable Chris Waller-trained mare Toffee Tongue (Tavistock), the sister to Werther who landed the Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) in Adelaide last campaign, is at a crossroads on Saturday in the Turnbull Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m).
“It will determine where she stands on Saturday. If she runs a good race in the Turnbull, obviously you push onto the Caulfield Cup, but if she doesn’t measure up to that class you can lower your sights and maybe aim at a Geelong Cup or a Moonee Valley Cup or something like that,” the Pinecliff Racing manager said.
“Chris could give her one more run and say we’re better off giving her a break and waiting for the autumn where in Sydney there’s give in the tracks.
“She’s in the Melbourne Cup, so that might be the way she goes, but she’s done the job already being a Group 1 winner. She’s an outcross filly, so you can breed her to anything.”
First-up Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra-trained Bobbie Lewis (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Zoutori (Zoustar), a horse Munz and his co-owners rejected offers for when the gelding was a three-year-old, will race down the Flemington straight again on Saturday in the Gilgai Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m). He is also nominated for the Paris Lane Stakes (Listed, 1400m).
“At this stage he’s going to run in the Gilgai, but he’s poorly weighted in that race, giving Santa Ana Lane three kilos. He’s badly weighted but he’s such a good straight horse,” he said.
“After Saturday, I think Matty and Simon will step him up. He did run fifth in the Carbine Club and fourth in the Sandown Guineas, so he can run a mile.”
The Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained Southbank (Fastnet Rock), who ran fifth in the Let’s Elope Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) first-up, was third in last year’s Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) and Douglas holds the mare in high regard.
A $1.25 million Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale purchase, being out of Group 3 winner Rezoned (Zabeel), herself a sister to four-time winner Preferment, Southbank is nominated for the Rose Of Kingston Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m).
“She’s had a few issues with her back and things, so they keep her at Flemington now,” he said.
“First-up she just peaked and hopefully she gets a run in that race and we will see where she sits as it was a good run the other day.
“She’s probably the best type of horse we’ve ever bought and she has been a bit stiff. Two strides before she’d won the Thousand Guineas, but Flit got her near the line.”
Munz, whose GSA Bloodstock portfolio numbers about 100 elite broodmares, also has the Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained Agreeable (Sebring) heading towards the Thousand Guineas at Caulfield on Saturday week.
“There are a lot of mares up in the Hunter Valley and then there’s others he’s sent to Super Seth. He’s got the Abbey Maries and Fenways with Arrowfield as well,” Douglas said of Munz.
“He’s very passionate about it.”