Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
A decade or so ago veteran trainer Ross Olivieri enjoyed many successes with Sheer Rocknroll, and now he has high hopes that the second of her progeny, Sheer Rock Lady, will prove a worthy successor on the track.
Four-year-old Sheer Rock Lady produced a sample of her class at Gloucester Park on Friday night when she scored a smart victory in the 2130m Quay Transport Pace for mares when having her fourth start after a spell.
She is comparatively inexperienced but has already earned $50,038 from seven wins and four placings from 21 starts and gives every indication of bigger and better things to come.
“Sheer Rock Lady is a big mare, and is bigger than her dam,” said Olivieri. “Sheer Rocknroll did a lot as a two and three-year-old, whereas this girl (Sheer Rock Lady) is four already.
“There are no ambitious plans for Sheer Rock Lady, but she is on the improve. She is classy and is strong and she also has speed. She has run a 26sec. quarter in a race at Pinjarra and when she gets a head of steam, she is pretty fast.”
Olivieri has no set plans for Sheer Rock Lady, but he is hopeful she will keep improving and become a worthy candidate in the $100,000 Group 2 Westbred feature event for mares over 2130m on September 4.
Olivieri prepared Sheer Rocknroll for her victories as a four-year-old in Group 3 features in the Race For Roses and the WASBA Breeders Stakes in 2017 when she followed in the footsteps of her dam Sheer Royalty, who amassed $248,904 from nine wins and seven placings from 33 starts.
As a three-year-old Sheer Royalty won the Group 3 Daintys Daughter Classic and the Group 1 WA Oaks and State Sires Series final.
Olivieri’s fond memories of many great clashes between Sheer Rocknroll and Dodolicious were revived at the Northam meeting last Saturday week when the fourth of the progeny of Dodolicious, two-year-old filly Ilkeitlikethat scored a most impressive victory, beating Funny As by four and a half lengths.
Sheer Rock Lady, driven by Shannon Suvaljko, was awkwardly drawn at barrier six and was the $3.20 second fancy, with the $2.80 favourite, Diamond World at No. 5, with Chris Voak in the sulky for trainer Jemma Hayman, Olivieri’s wife.
Diamond World led for the first 450m until Suvaljko sent Sheer Rock Lady to the front. “I thought that the ones on our inside would hand up, so I decided to keep going forward because she is a strong mare who is also tractable and versatile,” said Suvaljko.
Diamond World fought on solidly to finish second to Sheer Rock Lady, who rated 1.58.2 after covering the final 800m in 57.6sec.
Olivieri, who has trained the winner of 2571 races and has won the State’s trainers’ premiership eight times, still enjoys his hands-on involvement in harness racing, with Sheer Rock Lady winning at four of her eight starts this season and Diamondsareforever winning twice from seven starts in 2026.