Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Whitmore, C Z Rocket both pointing to Count Fleet Cap
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Champion Whitmore and C Z Rocket are scheduled to meet for the third straight race in the upcoming Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park. The six-furlong Count Fleet is on the Arkansas Derby undercard April 10.
Whitmore won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint over runner-up C Z Rocket last November at Keeneland. Both horses launched their 2021 season March 13 at Oaklawn in the $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes, with C Z Rocket a neck winner over Whitmore.
“C Z Rocket’s a good horse and he’s got great connections and it will be a really fun battle,” said Ron Moquett, who co-owns and trains Whitmore. “Hopefully, everybody stays healthy and sound and we battle all the way to November.”
Whitmore is based at Oaklawn, while C Z Rocket has returned to Southern California and trainer Peter Miller’s base of San Luis Rey Downs.
“We’re planning on coming back for the Count Fleet and looking forward to it,” Miller said Friday.
In the Hot Springs, C Z Rocket closed from last to catch a stubborn Whitmore in the shadow of the wire.
“It was one heck of a horse race,” Miller said. “Two great warriors going at it – so just glad we got the best of the finish.”
Miller said C Z Rocket emerged from his first start of the year “really well.” He had debated leaving the horse with his Oaklawn division, but decided against it in part because of the unpredictable weather in Arkansas.
“We just thought it prudent to bring him home,” said Miller, who trains for the partnership of Tom Kagele, Madaket Stables, and Gary Barber.
Whitmore also came back in good order, Moquett said the day after the Hot Springs. The horse had missed 11 days of training in mid-February due to a robust winter storm system that shut down the track at Oaklawn.
“He’s very happy,” Moquett said. “He’s good. He was tired and got a lot out of this race. I thought this was the safest way to get him to the Count Fleet. I was worried a little bit about fitness. I don’t think it affected us that bad, but we’ll definitely move forward.”
Whitmore has won the Count Fleet a record three times. He was voted champion male sprinter of 2020 following his win in the Breeders’ Cup. He races for Robert LaPenta and Head of Plains Partners.
Get Her Number back home
Trainer Peter Miller said Get Her Number has returned to Southern California following a troubled seventh-place finish in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel on March 13 at Oaklawn. The start was the horse’s first since winning the Grade 1 American Pharoah last September at Santa Anita.
“He came out of it good,” Miller said. “He got banged up a little bit when a horse came out into him at the eighth pole – got a cut on his front ankle, which we’re having to doctor. Hopefully, it won’t keep him out of any races.”
Miller would like to proceed with another Kentucky Derby points race for Get Her Number.
“The Arkansas Derby is certainly a possibility, as is the Santa Anita Derby,” he said Friday.
The calculus changed with the weekend defection of Life Is Good from the Santa Anita Derby, now the more likely spot.
Get Her Number won the American Pharoah over Rombauer, eventual winner of the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate, and Spielberg, eventual winner of the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity.
Cousin Larry making progress
Cousin Larry, the namesake of trainer Larry Jones, will start as one of the top choices in Thursday’s seventh race, which also drew Gershwin, a halfbrother to leading Dubai World Cup entrant Mystic Guide.
Cousin Larry is a halfbrother to Proud Spell, the 2008 Kentucky Oaks winner that Jones trained for former Kentucky Gov. Brereton Jones. The men are not related.
“Cousin Larry belongs to the governor, and ever since Proud Spell, I have been an honorary member of their family,” Larry Jones said. “I have become Cousin Larry. We are honorary cousins.”
Cousin Larry is a son of Cairo Prince. He was second by a head at this first-level allowance condition March 5 at Oaklawn. He earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 78.
“He came closing really nice, and just lacked about a jump getting there,” Larry Jones said. “He’s coming along every race. He’s getting better. His numbers are picking up every time. He’s just taken a little longer to come around than Proud Spell did.”
Cousin Larry also is a halfbrother to the multiple stakes winner No Distortion.
“No Distortion, it took him until about the middle of his 3-year-old season before he became a stakes horse,” said Jones. “I think this horse has a future.”
Cristian Torres has the mount from post 6.
Gershwin, a son of Distorted Humor, ships in from Fair Grounds, where he won a maiden special weight over 5 1/2 furlongs in his last start Feb. 6. His half-brother Mystic Guide shipped up from New Orleans last month and won the Grade 3, $600,000 Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn. Both horses are out of the multiple Grade 1-winning mare Music Note and are owned by Godolpin and trained by Michael Stidham.
◗ My Favorite Uncle, a 3-yearold out of the champion racemare Storm Song, makes his two-turn debut in Thursday’s third race, a maiden special weight.