C Z Rocket gets best of Whitmore
“It was a good ride. He kept him out of trouble. We did lose a lot of ground, but it’s better than getting stopped. He’s just a great horse. Whitmore’s a great horse, and I’m just sorry one of them had to lose.”
C Z Rocket trainer Peter Miller after Saturday’s Count Fleet Sprint Handicap
HOT SPRINGS — The idea of rubber matches deciding three-contest sets has wandered from the world of 16th-century English lawn bowling to Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort.
This rubber match — decided in the Grade III, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap before an estimated crowd of 17,000 at Oaklawn on Saturday — was won by C Z Rocket.
The 2-1 second-choice won the 6-furlong race in 1:09.62. Whitmore, the 1-1 favorite, finished second, 2 lengths back. Empire of Gold was third, 31/2 lengths behind the winner and a neck in front of fourth-place Strike Power.
The first mention of a rubber match was made by trainer Peter Miller after C Z Rocket emerged from his barn to outrun Whitmore by a neck in Oaklawn’s Hot Springs Stakes on March 13. That victory helped avenge Whitmore’s 31/4-length win over second-place C Z Rocket in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., on Nov. 7, a win that cemented Whitmore’s Eclipse Award as last season’s champion male sprinter.
C Z Rocket — a son of City Zip ridden by Florent Geroux — and Whitmore — a son of Pleasantly Perfect ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr. and trained by Ron Moquett — followed far behind the pace set through the opening quarter-mile of 21.92 by No Parole. Whitmore was fourth and C Z Rocket sixth in the six-horse field.
Strike Power led through the half in 45.35. Whitmore was fifth, 11/4 lengths back, and C Z Rocket sixth, 4 lengths behind the leader.
C Z Rocket had run unhurried through the turn, five and six wide, but found a clear route to the lead by the head of the stretch. Whitmore was in tight quarters around the turn, but Santana found an opening late and was a length back in second when he and Whitmore turned for home. He appeared to close briefly after the 16th pole, but C Z Rocket dug in and pulled away late.
“It was a good ride,” Miller said. “He kept him out of trouble. We did lose a lot of ground, but it’s better than getting stopped. He’s just a great horse. Whitmore’s a great horse, and I’m just sorry one of them had to lose.”
Moquett said he felt good about Whitmore’s effort.
“It was a good race,” Moquett said. “The home crowd, I promise you, would’ve loved to see a reversal but at the same time, congratulations to them. There’s a lot of pressure on [C Z Rocket] now because the last horse to beat us in the Count Fleet went on to win the Breeders’ Cup [Sprint].”
Whitmore finished second to Mitole in the 2019 Count Fleet. Mitole went on the win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and earned an Eclipse Award as champion male sprinter.
In the Carousel Stakes earlier Saturday, Frank’s Rockette started as the even-money favorite but ran behind a relatively slow pace early and could not pass Edgeway, ridden by Joel Rosario and trained by John Sadler. Edgeway led from the half-mile, into the stretch and through the wire to win in 1:10.13 at 6-5.
It was Edgeway’s first stakes win in her sixth career start.
“That was a really nice field, so that’s a big win for her,” Sadler said. “She’s stakes-placed several times, so for her to win a really big stake like that, very important.”
Frank’s Rockette, ridden by Florent Geroux and trained by Bill Mott, finished
3/4 a length back, 21/2 lengths in front of third-place Casual. Wildwood’s Beauty, who led through the opening quarter in 22.54, finished fourth, 81/2 lengths behind the winner in the six-horse field.
Sadler said he was somewhat surprised by the pace.
“I was a little bit, but it is what it is when it comes to pace sometimes,” he said.
Sadler said Edgeway’s next start would likely come at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
“[Frank’s Rockette] got bumped pretty hard at the break,” Geroux said. “I didn’t feel like she was taking me, so I took a hold and let that filly — Edgeway — go in front of me and tried to follow her. I just could not run her down in the lane.”