Won in a lightning fast time of 1 minute 6.18 seconds, Saturday’s 1200m Group 1 Telegraph Handicap at Trentham was everything it was cracked up to be apart from producing the predicted match race between the high-class mares Entrivierre and Levante, with somebody forgetting to tell underrated Per Incanto mare Roch ‘N’ Horse who came within a lip of landing New Zealand's most prestigious sprinting contest.
Roch ‘N’ Horse who was cruelly denied any luck, last start, in the Group 1 Railway Handicap, was able to find clear galloping room at Trentham to produce her customary powerful finish. In front a metre from the line, she lost the bob of the head right on the line to Levante.
Bred by LA and raced on lease with a number of friends and clients, the lightly raced Roch ‘N’ Horse, who was a stakes winner last season, now has a very valuable Group 1 placing at set weights and penalties to add to her resume, with the promise of much more to come.
Per Incanto also featured in the pedigree of Shamus, the most impressive winner of Trentham’s other feature the Group 2 Life Direct Wellington Guineas. Bred by Jomara Bloodstock, Shamus is out of the Per Incanto mare Chesapeake. Chesapeake has a Time Test 2YO.
Meanwhile at Flemington on Saturday, Per Incanto's Australian Group 2 winner and multiple stakes performer Justacanta showed he was on target for upcoming black type races in Tasmania when producing a strong finish for 2nd when resuming over 1400m.
In Sydney Belluci Babe finished second at her first start back for this campaign. Her next target is the Expressway Stakes at Group level.
