Kembla, Armidale previews: Mark Newnham’s well-bred youngster Rocstar Boy set to put on a show

Mark Newnham is hopeful injured jockey Tom Sherry will be back riding by the end of the season and in time to ice his first Champion Sydney Apprentice title.

Sherry added two more metro wins to his tally on Saturday before ending the day in the back of an ambulance after being dislodged on the way to the barriers for the last race.

Newnham, who was away in Brisbane and watching the drama unfold on the closed-circuit TV, arrived back home in Sydney on Sunday where he gained a first-hand appraisal of Sherry’s injuries.

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Tom Sherry rode a double at Rosehill last Saturday including I Am Power (pictured, outside) before suffering an injury from a fall in the final event. Photo: Mark Evans/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

“Tom’s got a fracture in his arm and a fracture in his wrist so they look like they will probably have to operate,” Newnham reported.

“It’s bad luck, he’d just come back off a broken collarbone and started to get a bit of momentum again.

“He was pretty down on Saturday night when I spoke to him but as I said to him ‘mate, injuries are part of being a jockey, and it’s never a good time’. That’s the life of a jockey, you are going to have injuries.”

Sherry’s shocking run of mishaps in the back half of the 2020/21 season won’t deny him the coveted Apprentice’s title putting him on a par with the likes of Jack Thompson, George Moore, Malcolm Johnston, Ron Quinton, Wayne Harris, Darren Beadman and Hugh Bowman.

Rocstar Boy is a great-grandson of former top filly Alinghi.Source:News Corp Australia

“That was the goal for Tom all year,” said Newnham.

“He didn’t start riding in town until this season and that was part of the plan to give him his best opportunity to win the Apprentice’s title.

“We did the same with Robbie (Dolan) and Robbie won it two years in a row.”

Unfortunately for Sherry, he will obviously miss the ride on Newnham’s spectacularly well-bred Kembla-bound three-year-old Rocstar Boy in Tuesday’s Stephen Schofield Maiden Handicap (1300m).

Rocstar Boy, whose third dam is the great Alinghi, is poised to peak in the opener off two ‘fourths’, both of which carried considerable merit.

“It looks his right race,” said Newnham.

Newnham’s talented gelding Marway is likely miss this weekend’s Randwick meeting. Photo: by Mark Evans/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

“He has had two runs in shorter races. His first-up run, I sort of ran him in that as a second trial – 900m at Newcastle – and he hit the line well.

“The other day at Wyong he travelled without cover and it just told on him late so I would say the tempo of the 1300m will suit him a lot better.”

Sherry’s sidelining could potentially rob this weekend’s At Sea Handicap of its star attraction namely the booming Wagga Town Plate winner, Marway.

“I am a bit stretched now for the next couple of weekends because I’ve got Josh (Parr) going to Queensland and Rachel (King) has already got a full book for this Saturday so trying to get someone to ride Marway and Sixgun on the weekend will be hard.

“I may not run Marway now, it just depends. I really need someone who can understand what I want done and that’s one of the reasons I generally keep things, all year, pretty much in house.”

FULL PRESS TO MAKE A STATEMENT AHEAD OF GUINEAS GOAL

Progressive three-year-old Full Press steams in from Coffs Harbour to Armidale on Tuesday on a hat-trick of wins but it’s a goal closer to home in 43-days that trainer Brett Dodson has his heart set on – the Grafton Guineas.

The son of Press Statement went home winless in his first seven starts but has turned the corner in recent times winning back-to-back races with a high degree of authority.

Not only that, but Full Press managed to make the quantum leap from a maiden to a Class 2 in the space of two weeks stamping himself as a horse worthy of aiming high with.

He will start with Tuesday’s Uralla Bowling Club Benchmark 58 Handicap (1400m).

“It looks a good race for him actually and I don’t think there is a lot of depth in it,” Dodson said.

“He had a couple of weeks off after he won his last run up there. I sent him to the paddock for a few weeks in preparation for the Grafton carnival, whereas if I kept him up, he wouldn’t have lasted that long.

“So, I gave him two weeks in the paddock and he came back all rejuvenated. I gave him a jump out late last week and he was very impressive.

Brett Dodson (pictured) has promising three-year-old Full Press ready to keep his winning form going at Armidale on Tuesday.Source:News Regional Media

“Everything is just switching on and it’s all coming together. It has taken him a while to really mature in the head and physically as well.

“He was a big gangly thing. He just had to grow into his frame a little bit because he was a bit ‘legs everywhere’ type.

“And since has strengthened up a little bit and I have added the blinkers, his whole action changed.”

Both of Full Press’ wins were at 1400m which, as Dodson is only too aware, the distance of the $500,000 Country Championship Final ever year.

“I think he’ll probably get a mile so we are going to have a crack at the Grafton Guineas with him,” the trainer said.

Dodson, meanwhile, was proud to toast an incredible milestone set on the weekend by his currently Queensland-based apprentice Kylie Wilson-Taylor who went past 100 wins for the season with his double at Toowoomba on Saturday night.

Originally published asKembla, Armidale previews: Newnham’s boy to prove he’s a Rocstar

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