Lucky Reddam’s Red rock
The morning after he followed up his Juvenile success on Wilko in 2004 with a victory in the $3m Turf at Churchill Downs on Saturday night, Reddam was wondering whether he had bitten off more than he could chew.
“It’s very exciting,” Reddam said of Red Rocks’ storming victory from off the pace under Frankie Dettori.
“Horse racing is a game of up and downs and recently I’ve only had ups, so I’m expecting a big crash next year. We’re going to enjoy it while we can, it’s been fantastic and I’m associated with a great bunch of people and I’m very lucky.”
Reddam has been very lucky indeed with his people and none more so than trainer Brian Meehan, the Irishman who has made the Manton yard in England his own since March and has been winning big races ever since.
The roll started that same month at Nad Al Sheba when David Junior defeated future Arlington Million winner Tin Man in the Group One Dubai Duty Free and closed for the year with Red Rocks.
As Reddam and Meehan took the plaudits at Churchill Downs on Sunday morning, the training half of the duo was also eager to redistribute the praise that was coming his way.
“It’s great for the team who produce and look after the horses,” Meehan said of the newly-won global profile Red Rocks’ success at the weekend will bring the Manton yard. “One in Dubai and one in Kentucky, that takes a lot of doing, it’s quite a feat.
“There’s a lot people back home working on it all the time. There’s 120, 130 horses at home now while we’re here. You might hold the license but you need the team.”
The small travelling band that accompanied David Junior and Red Rocks to Louisville returned home to Manton on Monday night with a concern of the former’s condition following his failure to act on the dirt in the $5m Classic won by Invasor on Saturday evening.
“We’ve got to get him back and see what we can do with him,” Meehan said of his now retired four-year-old. “Something went wrong. His scope was fine but he was stiff and sore so we’ll let our vets look at him.
“Certainly his racing career is over. This was always going to be his last race. He’s off to a new career and we wish him the best of luck but he’ll be at home for three or four weeks.”
Meehan and David Junior’s jockey Jamie Spencer ruled out the dirt being the cause of the problem but the trainer said more European horse would race in the US on the newer synthetic tracks – Polytrack is the leading manufacturer — that are slowly replacing the dirt ones here.
“Jamie said the surface was never an issue. He came from the dirt anyway as a two-year-old. But Polytrack proved itself here yesterday with the winners coming off the Polytrack and winning here.
“We race on some terrible ground in England at certain times of the year but we have Polytrack to train on and if you train them on Polytrack horses will go on and race on anything.
“It would make a big difference, and a lot more European horses will travel for sure, without any doubt. And at Keeneland, Turfway Park (in Cincinnati); Hollywood maybe a little bit too far but it will make a big difference to somebody considering coming over here. It’s sensible, it’s better on horses and they last longer. And as you know, over here, they have a habit of keeping their horses in training a lot longer. They race them until they’re five and six in million dollar races and that’s good for the game.”
Whether Red Rocks stays in training that long remains to be seen but he will definitely race as a four-year-old, with tilt at the Dubai Sheema Classic in March and a Breeders’ Cup title defence at Monmouth Park in New Jersey already on the agenda for 2007. But Meehan will resist the lure of a big season finale date in Japan or Hong Kong later this month.
“I don’t think so with him being a three-year-old. I think we’ll leave now, give him a break. Dubai is the perfect start for him.
“Probably the most important thing is that we focus on Dubai and then probably focus on bringing him back here for the Turf again. There’s so many races to consider. I wouldn’t mind bringing him back to a mile and a quarter at some stage, probably at home because the tracks are little different but certainly those are the two races that come to mind right now.”
Meehan was still marvelling at the ride Dettori gave Red Rocks at Churchill Downs, when race favourite English Channel was towed along by stablemate pacemaker Icy Atlantic for much of the mile and a half.
“The first half of the race was run at an unbelievable pace and it took great guts for Frankie just to drop in like he did and just wait for it to come back to him. When he came into the turn you could see Frankie was looking up to make his move and seeing that makes you confident.
“It’s had a huge impact on the team. I heard Ed Dunlop say that winning one of these was a life-changing experience so let’s wait and see. I hope I’d be able to say that in 12 months’ time. But it’s a great achievement for the team and to get a horse this far, it’s a long way from home, to get him here and relaxed, a lot of credit goes to the people around the horse that helped set that up.”
