This weeks’ Time Test Thursday selection puts the spotlight on another of Time Test’s progeny for whom the best is yet to come. Today’s galloper burst into contention for higher honors in the new season with an outstanding resumption a fortnight ago.
Bred by Jamieson Park and purchased by agent Paul Willetts from their 2021 Karaka book 1 draft for $40,000, unraced at two, Jon Ol Rocco looked every inch a promising stayer in his four-start campaign last season as a three-year-old, signing off with a midfield finish in the Group 3 Higgins Concrete Manawatu Classic over 2000m.
The adage that a good middle-distance galloper can always produce a good run fresh up applied to the four-year-old’s resuming run at Riccarton a fortnight ago over 1400m. Held up for a greater part of the Riccarton strait, the Andrew Carston trained gelding moved quicker than the Prime Minister to a pie warmer when bursting through a gap close to home to win in the style of a horse going places.
With wins at 1600m and 1400m, and a placing, from just five career starts, the staying bred Jon Ol Rocco looks an exciting middle-distance prospect.
