Promising three year old Johnny Roo Boy overcame the burden of being named after his trainer, with a strong performance to win the Super VOBIS Maiden (1000m) at Tatura.

In just his second race start, the son of Henny Hughes made light work of
his top weight  58 kilos which probably felt more like 60 with the
pressure of also carrying such a famous name!

Jack Hirsch thought it would be a great idea naming this bloke after John as he has been a real head ache spending most of his first preparation on two legs rearing up quite regularly each morning .

Knowing that we are big fans of the Kangaroos it was a great bit of humor &  well put together.

Johnny Roo Boy was resuming from a three month break following a close-up third on debut at Traralgon back in November.

He beat the Brian Cox trained Pink Ribbon carrying 53kg by a length and looks destined to be just as effective over longer trips as he gets further into his preparation.

His win was yet another success for long time stable clients the Hirsch
Family who have raced horses with us with great success over the past 15
years.

They currently also own two of the most promising horses in the
stable, last start Caulfield winner Red Spyder and the untapped Royal
Island.

The stable's strike rate of winners to runners continues to soar - of the
top 40 trainers in Victoria, John now sits outright Leader with a winning
strike rate of 23.5%