Rock'n'roll: Fast 'n' Rocking (pink cap) finishes brilliantly, if erratically, at Caulfield. Photo: Getty Images
Fast 'n' Rocking and Prince Harada could be two of the best three-year-old colts we will see this spring. But making any clear judgment about their relative merits will have to wait for another day.
Although the pair quinellaed the group 3 McNeil Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday, the final stages were too rough and ragged to tell. Runner-up Prince Harada suffered interference from beaten favourite Miracles Of Life. Winner Fast 'n' Rocking was not blameless either, as he drifted across both placegetters in the closing stages to push her off course, making it impossible to say with certainty what the outcome would have been had Tony Vasil's Prince Harada been able to get a clear run.
Lauren Stojakovic, the South Australian apprentice who had come back from debilitating injury to win the Blue Diamond on diminutive filly Miracles Of Life, was the feel-good story of the Melbourne autumn after her group 1 success in the two-year-olds' classic.
Saturday's 1200-metre dash, in which Miracles Of Life was being asked to concede weight to the boys, was her first run since that memorable day, but it was one Stojakovic will want to forget as it was her mount which caused much of the interference. Steven Arnold and Prince Harada almost crashed into the running rail in the shadows of the post as a scrimmage marred the concluding stages.
Certainly Vasil had no doubt that the heroine of the autumn had become the villain of the early spring as his son of Haradasun was bashed and buffetted in the drive to the line. After deliberation, Arnold and Vasil decided not to protest - taking the view that it wasn't the winner which had caused most of the interference and that they therefore wouldn't be able to get the race - but the trainer made his feelings clear.
''She [Miracles Of Life] was a contributor, [Brett] Prebble [who rode Fast 'n' Rocking] finished it off, but she did the damage. It was a dead-set line-ball protest, she got there before Prebble finished it off. Send her back to Adelaide … you saw the run, I don't have to say anything.''
Stojakovic was disappointed and looked upset after the race, saying that Miracles Of Life had never settled and given herself a proper chance in the race.
''She was way too fierce for the 1200, she was stirred up behind the gates, which is not like her. I am disappointed pretty much with the whole thing … there was a bit of bad luck on the line, she didn't give me an easy ride, that's for sure.''
Still, David Hayes' son of Fastnet Rock was not winning out of turn - the trainer had dubbed him the best maiden in the country after his close second to Safeguard on his seasonal reappearance in the Vain Stakes a fortnight earlier - and now that he has got his head in front, his trainer expects him to go on with the job.
He could chase a huge pay day in the Golden Rose in Sydney in a fortnight's time, or wait to run back at Caulfield in the Guineas Prelude before a tilt at the $1 million Caulfield Guineas in early October.
''He's a really exciting colt, I love the way he's got the tactical speed and cruises, and Brett gave him a peach of a ride. It was a bit rough and ready late, there might be a couple of hard-luck stories in that, but as far as I am concerned, he will be pretty hard to beat in anything he runs in from now on.
''He's definitely heading for the Guineas. He might go to the Golden Rose if he does well, that's a real stallion race now, and he would be one of the favourites now. If he licks the [feed] bin and thrives, he will go to Sydney. Otherwise the Guineas Prelude. There's too much value-add in the Golden Rose for a horse like him [to miss it].''
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