3 minute read
Rope Them In is locked in for the $5 million BYD Quokka.
Rope Them In will again take his place in the $5 million BYD Quokka (1200m) at Ascot on April 18 after connections secured a slot in Western Australia's richest race.
Picked up by Rapid Equine Breeding after representing TABtouch in last year's edition, Steve Wolfe's stable star returns bigger and stronger, and intent on righting the wrongs of 2025.
His explosive first-up win in the Group 3 Colonel Reeves (1099m) last season, where he ran to a 110 Racing and Sports rating, earned him early entry into the Quokka. But the then four-year-old could not build on that, beaten over six lengths in the Group 3 Roma Cup (1100m) a month later and went into the Quokka lacking confidence, finishing tenth and four lengths behind Joker's Grin. His ratings of 92 and 103 were his lowest since a BM66+ defeat almost a year/10 runs earlier.
The turnaround came during The Pinnacles. The son of Playing God made another strong fresh statement, posting a RAS career best 111 figure to win the Listed R S Crawford Stakes (1200m). He backed it up with a neck second to future Railway winner Watch Me Rock in the Group 3 Asian Beau Stakes (1400m), then ran fourth in the Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) behind Libertad and dual Quokka winner Overpass. Even his ninth in the Gold Rush (1400m), beaten a touch over three lengths, was not far off his top.
Determined to make amends for last year's Quokka campaign, Rope Them In returned in perfect fashion on April 4, upsetting the unbeaten Smooth Chino in the Roma Cup. Stalking the favourite throughout, he wore him down inside the final 100m and drew clear late, lifting to a new peak rating of 114.
Wolfe has taken a different approach this time for their second Quokka crack, with his star gelding heading into his grand final second-up with a confidence boosting win already on the board. While he has only one second-up victory, it is not a negative setup, as he has improved his rating in three of his six second-up runs.
With proven performers like Jigsaw (118), Caballus (118) and Rey Magnerio (117) already locked in, Rope Them In will need to lift again to match them as you would expect at least one of those runners is likely to reproduce their peak. But he is capable of rising to that level, and the anticipated fast tempo should suit him with several natural leaders engaged, including Jigsaw and Caballus who both led throughout to win their recent Group 1s in Melbourne.
After making it four straight first-up wins with his strong Roma Cup performance, Rope Them In was quickly tightened in early Quokka markets and now sits equal fifth pick at $10* with Smooth Chino at TABtouch.
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