Roaring Riva

Roaring Riva began his racing career by winning a maiden race over five furlongs at Windsor Racecourse and then followed up by taking a minor event over six furlongs at the same track. In early July he was sent to York Racecourse to contest the Black Duck Stakes and finished second, beaten half a length by Nomination, a colt who went on to beat Green Desert in the Richmond Stakes. The colt was then sent to Ireland and moved up in class for the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes over six furlongs on soft ground at Phoenix Park Racecourse. Ridden by Ray Cochrane he started the 4/1 second favourite behind the highly regarded, but previously unraced Tate Gallery, with the best-fancied of the other eleven runners being the unbeaten filly Sherkraine, Devil's Run and Mr John. Roaring Riva was among the leaders from the start, went to the front two furlongs out and held off the challenge of the filly So Directed to win by three quarters of a length.[4] Laing recalled that it was "quite a day. We had private planes, champagne, the lot!"[5]

Roaring Riva failed to add to his reputation in three subsequent races that year. He finished unplaced behind the filly Bambolona in the Sirenia Stakes at Kempton Park Racecourse in September and later that month came home eighth of the nine runners in the Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury. On his final appearance of the year he was dropped back to five furlongs for the Cornwallis Stakes at Ascot Racecourse in October and finished unplaced behind Hallgate.[4]

At the end of the year, the independent Timeform organisation gave Roaring Riva a rating of 103, making him 29 pounds inferior to their top-rated juvenile Huntingdale. In their annual Racehorses of 1985 Timeform praised Laing's skill at placing the horse to win a Group 1 race but opined that Roaring Riva was "some way removed from top class".[4]

After finishing fourth over five furlongs on his three-year-old debut Roaring Riva contested the Greenham Stakes over seven furlongs at Newbury on 19 April and finished fourth of the nine runners behind Faustus. After the race he was sold privately and transferred to the stable of Willie Musson at Newmarket. He was unplaced in four subsequent races, including the Vernons Sprint Cup, producing his best effort on his final start when he finished a close fifth behind Parioli in the Prix de Seine-et-Oise at Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse in late September.[3]

Roaring Riva finished unplaced on his first two starts in the spring of 1987 and was then off the track for two months. In June he was sent to Germany to contest the Group 3 Ostermann-Pokal over 1200 metres at Gelsenkirchen. Ridden by Michael Wigham he won narrowly from the locally trained five-year-old Germinal, with the French challenger Cedrico in third.[9] After finishing unplaced on his only subsequent start Roaring Riva was retired from racing.[2]