Pedigree Pointers with Gareth Downey – Rocking On High

The steady stream of recent winners for Rock ‘n’ Pop continued on Tuesday when Rocky High scored an impressive win by more than 2 lengths over 1400m at Albury.

In doing so, Rocky High became the 11th individual winner for Rock ‘n’ Pop – and provided further supporting evidence to the feedback from trainers that these horses are just going to keep improving with time and maturity.

The pattern that seems to be at work in the pedigree of Rocky High is the combination between Rock ‘n’ Pop and Mill Reef. Mill Reef himself is bred on the famed Nasrullah / Princequillo cross, and when Mill Reef is combined with Rock ‘n’ Pop, this creates reinforcement of both Nasrullah and Princequillo, as well as a host of wonderfully powerful mares – including Mumtaz Begum, Mumtaz Mahal, La Troienne, Selene, Stephanie and Banshee. With all this powerful reinforcement happening, it is easy to see why combining Rock ‘n’ Pop and Mill Reef should be successful.

The results to date when this has occurred are looking very encouraging, with five of Rock ‘n ‘ Pop’s winners coming from mares carrying Mill Reef. Apart from Rocky High, the other four winners have been Gold Spice (also 2nd in the Gr.3 Sunline Vase), The Lord Mayor (2 wins and 4th in the Gr.1 NZ Derby), Boomtown Rat (wins at Newcastle and Gosford) and Limekilns (1 win and 2 placings from 3 starts).

If you have a mare carrying Mill Reef, you would, therefore, do very well to consider following this proven successful pattern by sending her to Rock ‘n’ Pop this season. If you would like to discuss this or your pursuit of successful pedigree patterns in planning your matings, please get in touch via either gareth@waikatostud.co.nz or +64 21 433 073.