China Rock excelled in Thetote.com Punchestown Gold Cup at Punchestown
China Rock, the nine-year-old gelding bagged the first victory of his season in the Grade 1 Thetote.com Punchestown Gold Cup, which took place at Punchestown on 28th April, 2012.
Barry Geraghty rode the gelding and guided him to victory in an incredible manner, as he landed 5 lengths ahead of the Oliver McKiernan trained, Follow The Plan.
He maintained his composure throughout the track, and managed to catch up to Follow The Plan in the dying stages of the race.
The third place was acquired by race favourite, Quel Esprit, who was mounted by renowned jockey, Ruby Walsh with the odds of 15 to 8.
Quel Esprit, the son of Saint Des Saints, out of mare, Jeune D´Esprit, bagged a massive victory in the Grade 1 Hennessy Gold Cup on 12th February, 2012, where he finished 2 lengths ahead of Roberto Goldback.
The gelding could not bring his winning momentum in the Gold Cup, but turned in a good race nonetheless.
A tongue-tie was used on China Rock for the first time in his career, and it seemed to work wonders for the gelding.
Trained by M.F. Morris, the gelding’s weak point was his stamina, but he proved to break past it, and tackled it effectively. The winning trainer was pleased with the performance of his runner as he stated that:
"We did well to get him back when he broke down 13 months ago,” he elaborated and added that "I thought he was beat, but he wasn't, and the tongue-tie has made all the difference."
The chestnut gelding’s victory was particularly exciting as it came after a long time. He previously won the Grade 3 Star 'Best For Racing Coverage' Chase at Punchestown on 14th October, 2010, where he defeated race favourite,
Sizing Europe, by a tremendous margin of 7 lengths.
Out of the six victories in his career, two of them took place at Punchestown, which makes it seem like that this particular track is lucky for him.
If he continues to make the same kind of effort, he might be able to excel, even against some of the runners who are much younger than him.
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