El Roca Out Of Spring Racing Carnival

El Roca has been scratched from the 2014 Bobbie Lewis Quality and will miss the rest of the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival after straining a suspensory ligament.

El Roca will miss the rest of the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival due to a strained suspensory ligament.

El Roca will miss the rest of the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival due to a strained suspensory ligament. Photo by: Steve Hart

El Roca was set to make a belated start to his spring campaign in the Bobbie Lewis Quality, after he missed both the Listed Regal Roller Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on August 16 and the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at the same venue on August 30 due to a virus, but scans this morning revealed that the son of Fastnet Rock had suffered a strain to his off fore suspensory.

Trainer Trent Busuttin has been desperate to win a Group 1 event with El Roca, but he confirmed this morning that the four-year-old would miss the rest of the spring

“It’s very, very disappointing,” Busuttin told TVN.

“He’s strained a suspensory, there’s swelling and heat in his off fore leg.

“The first scan looks like it is three months in the paddock.

“We can only regroup and do the right thing by the horse and look to the autumn.”

El Roca made his racing debut with a comfortable win in a maiden at Taupo on August 19 last year and he was sent to Australia for a 2013 Spring Racing Carnival after he scored a strong black type win in the Listed Challenge Stakes (1200m) at Ruakaka on September 14.

The talented entire made his Australian racing debut with a tough second behind Éclair Big Bang in the Group 3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m) on September 29 and he was sent to the spelling paddock after he finished a luckless fifth in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) on October 12.

El Roca started his autumn preparation with an impressive win in the Listed Eskimo Prince Stakes (1200m) and was second behind Terravista in the Group 3 Liverpool City Cup (1300m) at Warwick Farm on March 8 before he was narrowly denied a maiden win at Group 1 level by Dissident in the Royal Randwick Guineas (1600m) on March 15.

The Fastnet Rock entire made his weight-for-age debut with a close third in the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 29, but finished a flat ninth in the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Royal Randwick on April 12.

The Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) was the major 2014 Spring Racing Carnival target for El Roca, but he will now have to wait until the autumn to win a Group 1 event.

About The Author

Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.