ADRIAN ‘Ado’ McGuinness has been responsible for starting the careers of a number of subsequent stakes winners and the most recent is last Sunday’s Grade 3 Athenia Stakes winner Roca Rojo. The now four-year-old daughter of Strategic Prince has graduated from winning at Killarney and Gowran Park to being successful in three of her four US starts this year.

Bred by Tommy Murphy, Roca Rojo was unbeaten in Ireland and has only suffered defeat once in the USA, finishing fourth in the De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga. She was purchased after her Irish wins by agent Pete Bradley for her present owners and she is certainly improving with age. She is now trained by Chad Brown and has won almost $250,000 to date.