Rio ready to rock Capalaba Cup

By Jordan Gerrans

Ahead of Sunday’s feature Capalaba Cup, dog man Jason Schmidt cannot help but reflect on how much Rio Will Rock has achieved in the past 24 months.

The current track record holder at the boutique grass track debuted at the venue almost two years to the day from Sunday’s heats of the rich Cup series. 

In that time, he has set the fastest-ever run recorded at the grass track - 19.17 seconds – as well as winning on 13 occasions from 24 attempts at the venue.

The black dog has tasted success at Albion Park and across town at The Q but it is Capalaba where he has thrived the most.

The Churchable-based Schmidt was only thinking about Rio Will Rock’s debut winning performance at the venue in October of 2023 on the way to the track on Sunday. 

In his heat on Sunday, Rio Will Rock stopped the clock at 19.52 seconds and gained a position in Sunday’s Group 2 decider after starting with the green rug on. 

“I was very happy with him, he jumped well,” Schmidt said of Sunday’s heat run. 

“He ran to the line strongly.

“He had a week between runs before that which I think would have brought him to the fore with his fitness for that run.

“He always has a few littles niggles, which is his life as he has had a few injury concerns over the time – it is hard to keep him 100 per cent every week.”

Rio Will Rock has been handed the red alley for Sunday’s Final. 

It has been a whirlwind couple of years for Schmidt and his brother Craig who own, train and bred Rio Will Rock.

The speedy chaser won on debut in a heat of the Bob Vernon Memorial series in early October of 2023 before winning the Final seven days’ later, which is annually run on the same program as the Capalaba Cup.

On that occasion it was Tom Tzouvelis’ champion Valhalla who landed the $75,000 feature.

Valhalla is undoubtedly a legend of the Capalaba track.

If Rio Will Rock can salute in Sunday’s Cup, he will go a long way to be considered up there with one of the best Capalaba dogs ever, considering he has held the track record for almost a year. 

Sunday’s Cup field is full of class, including Tzouvelis’ Armarta and Secret Story as well as Jeff Crawford’s star pair Miles On It and Blue Blend.

Armarta is the intriguing runner of the field after qualifying for the high-profile race after just five career starts.

Newcomer Armarta is a younger half-brother to Capalaba great Valhalla.

Schmidt believes Armarta – who ran 19.56 seconds in Sunday’s heat – might just be the one to beat in the decider.

“It is probably going to be one of the better Capalaba Cup fields for the last five or so years I think,” Schmidt said.

“There is a track record holder in this field or dogs that have held track records or have gone close to breaking them, not just at Capalaba but other tracks, as well.

“Nearly every dog has done those kinds of things.

“Rio Will Rock just needs to come out cleanly for the first 50 metres.

“The first 50 metres will tell us the race; dogs cannot afford to get in trouble in this race.”

Schmidt laughed that he was hopeful that his dog would still be the track record holder come Sunday evening, such is the talent assembled for the Cup decider.

Tzouvelis is wary of the track record holder's quality.

"Jason (Schmidt) will be happy with Rio Will Rock's one box,” Tzouvelis said.

Rio Will Rock is from a Rio Brave and August Flame mating.

While it is common for a former Queensland bitch to make her name in the breeding barn as a broodbitch, it is a rare occurrence to have both sides of the mating having raced in the Sunshine State.

And, it is even more unusual that the two dogs were prepared by the same kennel. 

Craig Schmidt trained Rio Brave with August Flame previously in the racing kennel of Jason.

To have the stud dog and the broodbitch previously racing in the same kennel does happen in the southern states on occasions but it is uncommon in Queensland.

As well as training their own team, the Schmidt brothers run a pre-training and rearing business.

They are racing the next August Flame litter – which is with interstate stud dog Aston Rupee - with Flaming Inferno and Rio Ragnar running at Q1 Lakeside on Tuesday.

“They do go all right, they are just learning to race,” Schmidt said of Flaming Inferno and Rio Ragnar.

“One won a heat last week and the other ran a place.

“They like to be drawn out wide at the moment.”