Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
“He’s a real marvel,” said part-owner and trainer Matt Scott after veteran pacer Rock Me Over had shocked him by winning the 2130m Westside Auto Service Now Open Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“I was disgusted with his run the previous Friday (when a wilting fourth, more than five lengths behind the winner Whataretheodds). He had had two weeks between runs, and he looked like he had the hopples on for the first time. He couldn’t hold the back of the horse in front of him down the back straight.
“He was too fat after the race, so I decided to work him much harder, and last Tuesday I got my seven-year-old son Levi, at home on school holidays, to sit in the sulky with me while I jogged the horse.
“I’m a hundred kilos and Levi is 30, and I wanted to make the horse work hard with extra weight in the cart when jogging on our sand track. I didn’t expect the horse to win tonight, and I thought he would need three runs to get back to his best, and that’s why I’m starting him in a race at Gloucester Park on Tuesday.”
Rock Me Over was a $22.90 chance from the outside (barrier two) on the back line on Friday night when Shannon Suvaljko had him travelling easily three back on the pegs in fifth position with Medieval Man ($4.40) setting the pace and the $2.60 favourite Rascal in the breeze after beginning fast but failing in a concerted bid to get to the front.
Rock Me Over was badly hampered for room approaching the home turn before Suvaljko angled him into the clear with about 150m to travel. He sprinted strongly, took the lead 70m from the post and won by 5m from $41 outsider Lord Titanium, who had taken the lead on the home turn after enjoying an ideal passage, one-out and one-back.
Rock Me Over, who rated 1.57.9, ended a losing sequence of 27, stretching back to October 21, 2022, a historic night at Gloucester Park when Gary Hall Jnr became the first driver to land seven winners at a meeting in the State.
Hall’s seventh winner came in the final event when Rock Me Over was having his 185TH start in a race following a seventh placing, two ninths and two tenths at his five previous starts.
Hall, whose previous drive behind Rock Me Over was 69 starts earlier in the gelding’s career, weaved his magic as he lit up a wet and miserable night with his remarkable skill, flair and ingenuity in the sulky.
Rock Me Over was out of action for 12 months after suffering a hind leg suspensory injury in April 2023, and on Friday night he was having his tenth start in his current campaign.
This was the small nine-year-old’s 213TH start and the victory took his record to 26 wins and 65 placings for $412,074 in stakes. He showed early promise as a two-year-old, winning three races and finishing second to the brilliant Jack Mac in the Pearl Classic in June 2017.
He is by American sire Rock N Roll Heaven and is out of the Perfect Art mare Benjor Maddy Lombo, who managed three wins, 12 placings and $21,510 from 34 starts before producing eight winners, including 2017 WA Derby winner Handsandwheels, who retired with earnings of $707,393 from 29 wins and 33 placings from 102 starts.
After Rock Me Over had raced 46 times for eleven wins Scott and faithful stable clients Tony Maguire and his son Ian purchased the gelding in February 2019 for $6000. Now, in 167 starts for his new owners Rock Me Over has earned $286,522 from 15 wins, 29 seconds and 23 thirds.
He certainly is a true marvel.