ZIGGY has Rocks his way into Tamworth's Golden Guitar Final.
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Ziggy Rocks, a member of Bathurst trainer-driver Mat Rue team took out heat three of the annual Tamworth series on Sunday to book his spot in the $50,000 decider.
Beginning from barrier six, Rue utilised the four-year-old's good gate speed and was able to find the top entering the first bend.
Immediately slamming the brakes on after finding the head of the field, Rue got away with a slow 32.1 seconds first quarter before running the field along at sub-30 quarters for the remainder of the 1,980 metres heat.
"He got the lead easy and got a cheap first quarter, but copped a fair bit of pressure through the middle half," Rue said.
"It was a pretty strong win, he hadn't had a run for a bit and was starting to get tired down the back, but he just keeps trying."
Giving them the slip down the back straight, Ziggy Rocks was able to hold on to beat the Amanda Turnbull trained and driven Loyola Trios by a half-neck.
"I heard a horse coming and then I heard Amanda yelling and I thought that's the last person I want to hear, but we held on," Rue said.
Ziggy Rock's winning mile rate of 1:57.7 was 0.1 of a second faster than last year's final, which was taken out by Queensland's Im Norma Jean for Peter Greig and Pete McMullen.
Previously run as a listed $25,000 event, this year the final of the Tamworth feature holds Group 2 status and offers a $50,000 purse. It will be run on Thursday night.
"He will draw five or six because it's done on national rating points but that's okay," Rue said.
"In high pressure races like this, often the horses who don't do much work early end up winning it.
"It will be a tough field and I think Obi One will still be the one to beat, but he [Ziggy Rocks] continues to surprise me every time he goes around."
Meanwhile, Rue sent a runner down to Goulburn's Hewitt Memorial race meeting on Sunday with driver Robert Morris taking the reins.
The four-year-old mare For All We Know was successful in the first on the card, giving Rue a training double for the day.
