3 minute read

Tony and Calvin McEvoy will use Saturday’s $107,250 Manihi Classic (1100m) as a guide to the carnival prospects of talented sprinter Rock The Ring.

One of the most improved horses in the state last campaign winning three races in succession, Rock The Ring finished runner-up n the Listed City Of Marion Stakes before being spelled after running fifth behind Outlaws Revenge in the Christmas Handicap.

"He's got to come up a notch to measure-up in a race like the Goodwood, but the horse is going well,'' Tony and Calvin McEvoy said.

"He trialled nicely the other day and we'll give him the chance.

"He'll run in the Manihi and then Hills Railway Stakes at Oakbank and those two races will tell us if we go to the Goodwood,'' he said.

The McEvoy stable has won two of the past three Group 1 Goodwood's with horses who boast similar profiles.

Despatch won the Hills Railway at Oakbank and Group 3 McKay Stakes before his Goodwood win at $21 in 2018 while Savatoxl won the McKay Stakes before scoring his upset victory at $19 in last year's Goodwood.

McEvoy confirmed Savatoxl would be trying to make it successive SA sprint features following a light spring where he was successful in the Group 2 Schillaci Stakes at Caulfield.

"He'll be heading back for another crack,'' McEvoy said.