Rock N Roll Kid Still Prevailing

Congratulations to John Richardson, and wife Chris, on the 10th black-type triumph at the weekend in Macau by Rock N Roll Kid, a gelding they bred by a stallion I have to take the rap for, Justice Prevails.

John was one of the earliest contributors to my blog when he responded to my piece on the late Jack Glengarry, Rooted In The Past But Ahead Of His Time.

John and Chris were founding shareholders in Justice Prevails when he was installed at Haunui Farm in 1994 and bred at least two very good horses by him at their Waikato property. Rock N Roll Kid is a great advertisement because he has endured racing in New Zealand, Macau, Hong Kong and Dubai and is still going strong at eight years with 15 wins to his credit. John and Chris’s other good result by Justice Prevails is the dual Listed winning mare Besty Coup.

Coming out of the recession of the late 80s/early 90s, New Zealand was desperately short of new stallion options. I went looking for something with sharp form in Australia which might be buyable and which would be well-received by talent-starved New Zealand breeders. I settled on two colts which were still in training, Kenny’s Best Pal and Justice Prevails, with a preference for the former because he had been a significant winner at three and had easily the more marketable pedigree. I quickly found the negotiation path to Kenny’s Best Pal, trained by Rick Hore-Lacy, strewn with too many obstacles. I then inspected Justice Prevails, trained by John Hawkes but not Ingham-owned, at Belmont Park just outside Sydney. He was a mid-season three-year-old at the time and, if memory serves me right, was recovering from a colic operation. A neat near-black, a bit narrow in front and bodgie-bred (by Proud Knight out of a Water Mill mare) he still ticked more of my boxes than not. With a willing seller-willing buyer scenario, Justice Prevails was secured without delay for a price about 0.5% of the reputed value of Haradasun.

Justice Prevails had been a first-rate two-year-old and perhaps the unluckiest Golden Slipper runner-up ever. His race was won in record time by the on-pace Bint Marscay. Justice Prevails, ridden by M Evans, was last to the 300m and I doubt I’ve seen a two-year-old finish faster in a top grade race, so wide on the track he was out of camera shot until the last 50 metres.

The syndication of the colt was completed in a day. He was just what a section of the struggling New Zealand market was waiting for at the time, a cheap-as-chips young colt with high class Aussie form. He proved a worthwhile horse in financial terms for the stud and his shareholders. He sired only a handful of good performers - 7 stakeswinners, which is two more than his sire - including the smart filly Pay My Bail which Phillip Esplin bought for Twin Palms at last year’s Starcraft promo at Magic Millions. But in the end I guess Justice Prevails’s pedigree won out and he was cast adrift from the commercial mainstream after six seasons in which he covered on average 75 mares per year, joining the 80-90% of all stallions which fail to consistenly pass on their own ability. So at least he’s in damn good company.