TRAIN ROCK PREVAILS IN A PRESSURISED FINISH

By Graham Potter | Friday, June 9, 2023

Between the stable double at Toowoomba on May 20 and the Gatton meeting on June 9, the Tony and Maddysen Sears training partnership returned no less than four second and four third placed finishes. Solid stables can do that … keep things ticking over nicely enough until the next winner comes around.

Train Rock was the horse to break that ‘drought’ when he saluted in a QTIS Three-Year-Old Maiden Handicap over 1600m at that June 9 meeting at Gatton … and, in fact, the son of Mail Train was turning around his own fortunes as well as he came into the race off the back of two runner-up finishes himself.

Both of those second places were over 1300m and the stable stepped Train Rock up to the 1600m trip here for the first time in a race in which he started as the $3.80 second favourite.

As things turned out, Train Rick had to run out every inch of those 1600m.

Jake Molloy jumped Train Rock smartly out of the gates and the Sears trained runner led for the first 150m, but the speed then went around him gradually relegated Train Rock back to fifth place … in midfield, six lengths back … as the field went down the back stretch.

Molloy then pushed Train Rock closer approaching the home and Train Rock cornered in third place a couple of lengths behind the leader Italian Virtuoso ($10).

But it wasn’t only Italian Virtuoso that Train Rock had to deal with as challenges were also being produced on the outside of Train Rock, where Easily Amused ($14) and Frijoles ($5) raced into serious contention.

Such was the competitive nature of the finish that there were four runners in a line, spread across the track with 100m left to run and, of those, it was Train Rock who was most resolute with his sustained effort allowing him to edge clear over the concluding strides to land his first career win by a 0.20 length margin in sixth start.

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