Rock N Roll Doo Primed for Redemption

VICTORIAN trainer Mick Stanley quickly turned the page on New Zealand Cup disappointment to focus on more Group 1 glory.

The beauty of Stanley’s NZ raid with emerging star pacer Rock N Roll Doo is that it offered a “Plan B” should things not go to plan in last Tuesday’s Cup.

The still relatively inexperienced Rock N Roll Doo was overawed by the occasion and made a mess of the standing-start in the Cup, effectively ending his race before it started. He then just followed the field around.

But Friday's $NZ200,000 Group 1 NZ Free-For-All is right back in Rock N Roll Doo’s wheelhouse.

It’s a mobile start, he’s drawn quite well in barrier five and the 1980m distance is close to the 2240m he blazed over to win last month’s Group 1 Victoria Cup at Melton.,

Most importantly, Stanley is adamant his stable star took no harm at all from Tuesday’s mishap.

“He’s great. He’s raring to go Friday,” Stanley said. “We always knew coming here the risk was the standing start in the Cup, but that we had this race (FFA) as a back-up.

“Sure, it was disappointing on Tuesday, but this horse is just starting out in the big league and we’re still glad we made the trip across.

“It made it easier to get over Tuesday knowing we had Friday’s race to look forward to.”

Such is the respect for Rock N Roll Doo in NZ, he is a $3.20 favourite to bounce-back tomorrow.

Another plus is the fact Cup winner Copy That is not backing-up in the FFA.

Stanley confirmed Rock N Roll Doo would return home for a break after Friday and bypass the Inter Dominion series starting at Ballarat on November 26.

It’s a different story with Australia’s other runner in tomorrow’s FFA, the NZ Cup runner-up Majestic Cruiser.

His trainer Jason Grimson said Majestic Cruiser’s huge Cup run and how well he came through it had forced his hand to tackle the FFA.

“The FFA was always a wait and see, but he’s done everything right and we’ll give it a go,” he said.

“His Cup run was fantastic. He just keeps delivering in the big races for us.”

Majestic Cruiser is $7 fourth favourite in the FFA from an outside back row draw and he isn’t as well suited by the drop back from 3200m of the Cup to 1980m.

Grimson, who won last year’s Inter Dominion final with Boncel Benjamin, declared Majestic Cruiser a certain runner in this year’s series.

“Last year’s series was the making of him and he’s a much better horse now,” he said. “I think I’ve got a strong hand in the Inter with he and I Cast No Shadow,” he said.

·       Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.