Anthony Allen dedicates stakes win on Love Rocks to late sister, Indiana

ANTHONY Allen dedicated his win to his late sister Indiana after riding Love Rocks to a sparkling Lough Neagh Stakes win.

Anthony Allen salutes as Love Rocks crosses the line to win at Doomben. Picture: Mark Calleja

ANTHONY Allen dedicated his first stakes win to his late sister Indiana after teaming with Queensland's most improved horse Love Rocks in a sparkling Lough Neagh Stakes win on Saturday.

Beaten in no metro win grade three starts back, Love Rocks shook off the nuisance value of Mishani Warrior to post a super slick 1:17.43 for the 1350m, which was only marginally outside Natural Destiny's course record, set in the same race in 2006.

Benny's Buttons and Doubtfilly proved the best of the pursuers, but Love Rocks left them all with no excuses.

Allen's sister Indiana, who died before reaching the age of two waiting for a liver transplant when the jockey was 17 years old, has been an inspiration throughout his career.

"This is by far the best day of my career. I want to thank the family of (trainer) Steve Tregea for letting me ride the horse," Allen said.

"I have a tattoo on my back of Indiana and I dedicate all my riding to her.

"It's a thrill to win the race so easily.

"It's taken a lot of hard work and I owe so much to my boss (Steele Ryan. We came up with a new approach to my riding and he just never stops helping me. I call him 'boss' but he's more like a mate to me."

Ryan was one of the happiest faces in the Doomben crowd following the win.

Tregea said he always intended to stick with Allen, even though he couldn't use his 1.5kg claim in the Listed feature.

"He's a mighty little rider," Tregea said. "He's had eight to 10 rides for me and I haven't been unhappy with any of them."

Tregea said his confidence grew us the week wore on, but he hadn't factored a fresh Mishani Warrior matching motors with Love Rocks in the middle stages.

"It was a huge class rise and no claim today, plus the extra distance, but he didn't know about it did he?" Tregea said .

"When he kicked on the turn I was relatively confident. The horse had just done so well this week. Everything was right."

Asked if he could have imagined being in this position six weeks ago, the trainer said "no" but added he'd always had faith in the horse's ability.

"Given where he's come from, we're just happy to be here," he said.

"But I have always loved the horse. He always did everything so effortlessly."

Tregea's training performance should not be underestimated.

He sent Love Rocks to Sydney in September, where he had three runs for Craig Carmody, with the aim of the mission to help the horse mature.

The plan clearly worked!

Stuart Kendrick was pleased with the return to form of Doubtfilly, who will run next in either the Magic Millions Cup or MM F&M on January 11.