The Westspeed breed received a second major award in as many weeks when Rocket Man was named the Inaugural Aushorse Australian-bred Singapore Champion last night.
Rocket Man (Viscount – Macrosa by McGinty) is from a very successful family developed by John and Joan Blackburn in WA’s south-west. Last week, Scenic Blast won the Australian Horse of the Year title. The son of Scenic was bred by Durham Lodge north of Perth at Muchea.
In the 1980s, the Blackburns bred top-class mare Rosamoss (Moss Trooper) who carried the their distinctive white, black and green colours to victories in the WA Anniversary Cup, Towton Cup, Kalgoorlie Gold Cup and Eurythmic Cup.
Her younger sister Dusky Rosa (Indian Conquest) won 5 races in Perth and at stud foaled G1 AJC Australian Derby winner Ebony Grosve (Grosvenor) and Randwick stakes winner Macrosa (McGinty).
Rocket Man isn’t the Group 1 winner foaled by Macrosa. She is also the dam of South African based galloper Our Giant (Giant’s Causeway). He has won at the elite level in the Mercury Sprint at Clairwood and the Horse Chestnut Stakes at Turffontein.
Rocket Man is by former Woodlands sire Viscount who is now based at Neville Duncan’s Oaklands Park in WA. His award-winner was bred by Dean Fleming and sold through the Tyreel Stud draft at the 2007 Gold Coast Magic Millions National yearling sale.
Rocket Man is trained by Patrick Shaw and he took Singapore racing by storm last season. He was unbeaten in his first seven starts, where his front-running efforts lowered the Kranji 1200m record on several occasions.
His lone defeat came at the hands of Sacred Kingdom after the Australian-bred pair staged a thrilling duel in the G1 KrisFlyer International Sprint.
Rocket Man was sidelined after that race, but he is now back from injury and is being prepared for the G1 Hong Kong International Sprint.
“Singapore has become a major export market for Australian breeders and we felt this award was a perfect opportunity to honour and recognise success in the region,” Aushorse Marketing Chairman Antony Thompson said at the awards which were held at the Australian High Commission in Singapore last night.
“Rocket Man was rated as one of the top three sprinters in the world, joining fellow Australian-breds Scenic Blast and Sacred Kingdom.”
Singapore racing continues to go from strength to strength. Ninety (90) race meetings have been scheduled in 2010 compared to 83 race meetings in 2009. The increase in the number of race meetings is to create sufficient opportunities for the increasing number of horses at Kranji.