Make Rock N Roll Heaven one of the early favorites for the $1 million Meadowlands Pace.
Rock N Roll Heaven overcame 40 mph wind to take the lead on the backstretch and posted an impressive 1 1/4-length victory over Fred And Ginger in the $220,000 Berry's Creek at the Meadowlands on Saturday night.
Driven by Daniel Dube, Rock N Roll Heaven covered the mile in 1:52 in winning the first major stakes for 3-year-old pacers this year. The Bruce Saunders-trained colt paid $7, $4.20 and $2.80 in winning for the second time in three starts this year.
What made the performance so impressive was the way the son of Rocknroll Hanover handled the brutal breezes.
In the first four races on the card, no horse on the lead on the backstretch got to the finish line first. Rock N Roll Heaven not only ended that trend, he was never challenged in the stretch.
``The wind is so tough over there on the backside,'' Dube said. ``He kind of worked hard to get there and after that he just kept going, which is a good sign for a good horse.''
Rock N Roll Heaven started from the No. 3 post position in the field of 10 and raced in fourth place down the backstretch behind Europan Union, Foreign Officer and Kyle Major in the early going.
A winner of nearly $600,000 last year, Rock N Roll Heaven moved ahead of Kyle Major by the half mile pole and never looked back.
Rock N Roll Heaven had a tough time in last week's eliminations, which were won by Foreign Officer and Kyle Major. The colt was delayed twice getting to the starting gate and eventually finished third in his elimination after being caught wide.
``Last week he endured a tough trip but I knew he would bounce back,'' Saunders said. ``He's just a very, very good horse.''
Fred And Ginger returned $6.40 and $3.40. Kyle Major paid $2.60 to show. Europan Union was fourth, followed by Foreign Officer, Four Starz Trace, Pang Shui, Morgan Shark, Shark's Legacy and Cambassador.
