Ocean Rock rips to upset in Open Pace

by Ray Cotolo, for the Breeders Crown

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Allywag Hanover received only respect on the front as he put on a speed show with Ocean Rock right behind, but, come the straightaway, Ohio invader Ocean Rock charged after the odds-on speedster to land a 16-1 knockout blow on the line of the $600,000 Breeders Crown Open Pace on Saturday (Oct. 30) at The Meadowlands.

Driver Dan Noble secured the lead with Ocean Rock through a :25.4 first quarter, with Allywag Hanover alongside and gradually inching towards the top.

Ocean Rock kept Allywag Hanover off the cones until the 2-5 favorite cleared control into a :53.2 half and attempted to snag a breather around the final turn.

Clicking three-quarters in 1:21.2, Allywag Hanover spun for home with Ocean Rock lunging out of the pocket to threaten and Cattlewash creeping closer while angling three-wide from the pylons. Ocean Rock surged to the lead late in the stretch and kept Cattlewash at bay by a neck. Allywag Hanover settled for third, and Enavant flew down the center of the track for fourth.

“I was very happy with the position I was in,” Dan Noble said of the pocket trip after the race, “and I had a lot of pace there. I was trying to not be anxious and move too early.”

“I thought he raced super,” Todd McCarthy, driver of third-place finisher Allywag Hanover, said after the race. “We just had to do a little bit too much early. A bunch left and there was a little speed, so that first half was pretty steep for him. Usually, these last ones when I’ve left with him, he’s kind of been there by the turn. Just having to do that little bit more today, I was a little wary of that, and I was worried it was going to take a toll on him late. But he hung in there like a champion and he fought all the way to the wire. I couldn’t be happier with his performance. He was trying his heart out, but we had a good group following us today.”

Ocean Rock won the Open Pace as one of three horses receiving a bye from the elimination. Allywag Hanover and Catch The Fire were the other bye recipients.

“We figured we'd better take the bye; that way he'd have one easy week,” Noble said. He's a lot better off a two-week layoff, and we were hoping that would work out.”

The win gave Ocean Rock millionaire status with $1,209,522 to his credit for owner-breeder Sandra Burnett, who won a trophy in her Breeders Crown debut. Christi Noble trains the victorious 4-year-old gelding by Rockin Amadeus; both she and her husband, Dan, won their first Crown trophies in their first appearance.

“I'm glad that we finally got this opportunity this year since we didn't get so much of it as a 2- and 3-year-old — that he can go to these big dances and be competitive,” said Christi Noble, since Ocean Rock was ineligible for the Breeders Crown at 2 and did not supplement at 3. “We had a lot of support from back home, and my owners were here. It's fantastic.”

Ocean Rock, the third double-digit payoff of the 12 Breeders Crown events, returned $34.80 to win.