News

Young Stars Shine For Fastnet Rock

28th Aug 2011

Racing And Sports - Saturday, 27 August 2011

Fastnet Rock's three-year-old progeny have hit top gear with the onset of spring racing with his brilliant sons Smart Missile and Foxwedge fighting out the finish of the Group 3 Run to the Rose at Rosehill on Saturday.

Fastnet Rock also hit the mark when his smart filly And Rock (Fastnet Rock x Bee and Bee, by Grand Lodge) won the open 1400m fillies event at Caulfield on Saturday.

Smaret Missile was the star at Rosehill, once again living up to the prediction of his trainer Anthony Cummings that the olt may well be the best horse he has trained.

In just three starts the strapping bay has lived up to expectations, winning the Breeders' Plate at the start of last season and handing Sepoy his only defeat to date in the G2 Todman Stakes in the autumn before he was a shock late scratching from the Golden Slipper.

His eagerly anticipated return in Saturday's $125,000 Run To The Rose looked to have gone pear shaped early when he was slow to gather speed from the barriers and was hooked backed to last by Glen Boss.

His winning chance looked remote on the home turn but he zoomed down the centre of the track to score an arrogant neck win over Foxwedge, winner of the G2 San Domenico Stakes at his previous start.

"He's just an amazing animal,” winning trainer Anthony Cummings said.

"At the furlong I'd given up but he's just an extraordinary horse.

"Only a very short list of horses can do that.”

The enthusiasm of his trainer looked quite measured compared to his exuberant rider.

"He is quite possibly one of the best horses I have ever thrown a leg over, it's unbelievable what he has done,” Boss said.

"You have to give him credit as it was his third start in a race and he did not know what to do. Quite electric and I cannot wait until he gets to a mile as that will be when he is in his backyard.

"The best three-year-old I ever rode was Fastnet Rock and this bloke is probably a bit better than him as he has more scope.

“Honestly we have seen the birth of an absolute superstar," Boss enthused.

A homebred for Eduardo Cojuangco's Gooree Stud, Smart Missile is a half-brother to stakes-winner Kiss From A Rose out of the US-bred imported Comic Strip mare Comical Smile, a half-sister to G1 winner Northern Meteor.

Like many of the Gooree homebreds, Smart Missile traces back to one of America's great families through his fifth dam Rough Shod, whose descendants include the great stallions Sadler's Wells and Nureyev.

Caulfield winner And Rock was a $100,000 purchase from the Woodside Park draft at the 2010 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.

Prepared by John McArdle, she has two wins and two seconds from six starts and over $80,000 in prizemoney.