NZ HARNESS NEWS
The least-hyped of her foals put broodmare Chicago Blues on the winner’s list during the New Zealand Cup Carnival yesterday.
The mare was meant to have her name up in lights at Addington on Tuesday, with Chicago Bull on track to start favourite in the New Zealand Cup.
A freak injury put an end to that, but it has not stopped his dam from starting her cup week in style.
On Sunday, her four-year-old daughter, Rockabilly Blues, gave her some small consolation when she scored impressive win hundreds of kilometres away in the much quieter surrounds of Young Quinn Raceway.
The Rock N Roll Heaven half-sister to Chicago Bull came with a booming finish her big brother would be proud of to win the mile event in 1.56.5 for trainers Katrina and John Price.
Remarkably, Rockabilly Blues’ victory came just weeks after she was bound to join her dam in the broodmare paddock.
“We had her booked in and she was going to go to stud this year; we had her in work but we weren’t really committed to racing her,” Katrina Price said.
“She came up pretty good this time and we persevered with racing her, instead, and she will probably go to the breeding paddock next year.
Though they share the same genetics, Chicago Bull and Rockabilly Blues are nothing alike in appearance.
“You would never dream in a million years that they are related, she is as big as he is small.
“But hopefully she has some of his ability, though.”
Rockabilly Blues’ big frame and her late foaling date have contributed to her taking much longer to get to the races than her brother, who ran in the Harness Jewels as a two-year-old.
“She has always had speed, but she is a January foal and she was just weak.”
“With her size and being a January foal, you would think time is going to help her.”
Part of the reason Rockabilly Blues was heading to the broodmare paddock was because her mother, Chicago Blues, has not produced a live foal for two seasons.
A Bettor’s Delight foal died at birth last season and she failed to get back in foal, so is empty this season.
The last foal from Chicago Blues is her sales-topping yearling of last year.
The Bettor’s Delight two-year-old, who has been renamed Perfect Stride, won a qualifying trial in Pukekohe on Saturday for trainer Ray Green.
Rockabilly Blues’ victory and the progress of Perfect Stride make for some small consolation for the Prices, who would have had a massive chance of breeding a New Zealand Cup winner if Chicago Bull had been able to progress to the race.
“It was gutting, especially with what he did in Auckland, he certainly would made have the race interesting.”
- NZ Harness News
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