Zenno Rob Roy, Jungle Pocket Will Stay in Australia

Former Japanese champions Zenno Rob Roy and Jungle Pocket have been denied access to New Zealand and instead will now stand the remainder of the embattled Southern Hemisphere season in Australia.

Zenno Rob Roy was released Oct. 1 from the Spotswood quarantine station in Victoria, where he has been since equine influenza hit Australia. But, like Jungle Pocket, the New Zealand Equine Health Association (NZEHA) has banned him from entering the country.

Zenno Rob Roy has repeatedly tested negative to the equine influenza virus. He was to have stood at Java Thoroughbreds in New Zealand this year but the ban has resulted in him being placed at the Independent Stallion Station at Nagambie in Victoria.

The son of Sunday Silence, who was to have served a full book at Java, will stand for $14,000 (Australian funds; about $12,450).

The multiple Japanese group I winner was retired to stud last year after an career that saw him crowned Japan’s Horse of the Year in 2004.

Joining him in Australia is fellow Japanese stallion Jungle Pocket. He, too, has fallen foul of the NZEHA rules and instead of continuing his breeding career in New Zealand will stay in Victoria, at Hollylodge Thoroughbreds. He will stand for $8,000 (about $7,800).

With a Timeform rating of 131, Jungle Pocket was rated the third best 3-year-old colt in the world in 2001 and Japanese champion 3-year-old.

Already the sire of three stake winners in Japan, Jungle Pocket is now making his presence felt in New Zealand with stakes-placed Lady Sakura over sprint distances and Australian winner Classic Pocket over seven furlongs.

By the Prix de l’ Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) winner Tony Bin and from the mare Dance Charmer, Jungle Pocket was leading New Zealand-based second-crop sire at the 2007 Karaka premier sale with a $117,917 average.