by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner, media relations manager for Harness Racing Communications, spent six weeks in 2007 following foaling activity at Perretti Farms in central New Jersey. On May 12, 2007 he was present for the birth of a pacing colt out of Worldly Beauty, by Rocknroll Hanover (see related articles at bottom of page). On July 16, 2009 the colt made his pari-mutuel debut at the Meadowlands Racetrack as part of the Erv Miller Stable.

East Rutherford, NJ — As Tony Alagna watched the replay of World Of Rocknroll’s career debut performance at the Meadowlands Racetrack on Thursday night, probably the most significant words he said to me were these: “I know we can make him better.”

Tony Alagna photo

HRC’s Ken Weingartner and World Of Rocknroll, who was third in his pari-mutuel debut on Thursday.

World Of Rocknroll, driven as usual by Andy Miller, finished third last night, beaten by 4-3/4 lengths. It was a very solid effort, particularly from his outside post position. He was sixth at the race’s halfway point, nine lengths off the lead, and closed with a strong :27.4 final quarter-mile despite not always traveling in a straight line down the stretch.

At this point, we shall offer congratulations to the connections of the winning horse — Delmarvalous — who paced the mile in 1:53.1. Delmarvalous, the favorite, is a son of Badlands Hanover trained by George Teague, Jr., who co-owns the colt with John Celii’s Badlands Racing. Nine Twenty Two, trained by Joe Holloway, was second.

World Of Rocknroll’s time for the mile was 1:54.1. Five years ago, World Of Rocknroll’s father, Rocknroll Hanover, won his career debut at the Meadowlands. His time was 1:55.

“He got off the gate real good,” said Alagna, the second trainer for the Erv Miller Stable and one of the horse’s owners, as he watched the replay of World Of Rocknroll’s race. “I was really happy Andy was able to leave with him a little bit and drop in a hole (in sixth place) and sit there. He was nice and comfortable; he wasn’t aggressive in the hole.”

World Of Rocknroll moved off the rail on the backstretch and was able to follow a horse into the final turn. As he fanned out three wide at the top of the stretch, Andy needed to steady the colt because World Of Rocknroll wanted to duck to the inside.

“He had to grab him,” Alagna said. “He got him pacing again pretty good, but anytime you do that you’re taking pace away from him, regardless of how it looks. He still wants to run in a little bit, which is coming from his right front foot. I know we can make him better. He handled everything well tonight; that’s the most important thing.”

When World Of Rocknroll was born, I remember thinking it would seem like “forever” until we knew whether or not he would even make it to this point. So when forever finally arrived, it was amazing. What was most pleasing, at least for me, was that he simply had made it.

What were the odds that I would have been present for the birth of a horse to make it to the races at all, let alone a colt with some potential? Only 36.6 percent of the foals born in 2006 made starts in purse races as 2-year-olds. Going back to 1998, the average is 40 percent.

World Of Rocknroll got a well deserved day off on Friday.

“The first thing we do is make sure the horse ate well and has no temperature,” Alagna said. “We check their legs and we have the vet go over all our 2-year-olds the day after they race. Then we take them out and let them get some grass; give them time to decompress a little bit. It’s really a day to just rest.”

On Saturday, it will be back to the regular training routine. If all systems are go, World Of Rocknroll will be entered again in the non-winners-of-one class next week.

“We are very pleased with him,” Alagna said.

I couldn’t have said it better.