In seven starts, owner Frank Fletcher said he has been impressed with what he's seen out of his homebred filly Frank's Rockette but is hoping she becomes a graded stakes winner in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Victory Ride at 6 1/2-furlongs over the main track at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.
“She's on the top of her game right now,” Fletcher said. “She's a small horse, but she's grown and gotten stronger. She ran very well in a couple of Grade 1 races last year as a 2-year-old and I've been pleased with each race.”
The Victory Ride, slated as Race 3 at 2:24 p.m. Eastern, is the first of five graded stakes on Saturday's Runhappy Met Mile Day card. The stakes-laden 11-race showcase is headlined by the Grade 1 Runhappy Met Mile, open to 3-year-olds and up and offering a berth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in November at Keeneland; and also features the Grade 1, $400,000 Manhattan for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/4-miles on turf; the Grade 2, $200,000 Suburban, a 10-furlong test for 4-year-olds and upward; and the Grade 3, $150,000 Poker, a one-mile turf test for older horses.
The Runhappy Met Mile will feature live on NBC from 5 – 6 p.m. Eastern with the entire Runhappy Met Mile Day card available on America's Day at the Races on FS1 beginning at 1 p.m. First post Saturday is 1:15 p.m.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Frank's Rockette has been favored in each of her career starts and has never finished worse than second. Although winless in both of her Grade 1 starts, which took place on the NYRA circuit in the Spinaway at Saratoga and the Frizette at Belmont Park, the Into Mischief bay filly has displayed top quality talent with her consistent record.
Frank's Rockette kicked off her career with an 8 3/4-length triumph at Churchill Downs en route to three placings against graded stakes company, including a second in the Grade 2 Adirondack at Saratoga.
Fletcher recalls watching her career debut noting that she displayed an almost too laid back demeanor in the paddock.
“I remember the first time I saw her running at Churchill Downs and watching them saddle her in the paddock,” Fletcher said. “She had her head down and it looked like she was going to sleep. I said to the assistant, 'Was she up all night last night?' She does the same thing every time, but as soon as she gets to the track she's focused and ready to run. She's got a great personality. She's real sweet and easy to be around but once she goes to the track, she's all business.”
With no other bona fide frontrunners in the Victory Ride field, Frank's Rockette is likely to lead the early charge. Fletcher said the early gate speed can be worrisome.
“She scares me sometimes,” Fletcher said. “She gets out there and runs so fast at the beginning that I get worried she's going to be done at the end. Every time, she seems to find a new gear and finishes up strong.”
Following a runner-up effort in the Frizette to Wicked Whisper to close out her juvenile campaign, Frank's Rockette returned to action in style making her 2020 bow a winning one in the Any Limit on February 22 at Gulfstream Park. Sent to post as the even-money favorite, she took command and strolled to a seven-length victory while producing a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure.
Frank's Rockette arrives at the Victory Ride off a 3 1/2-length win in an allowance optional claiming event going six furlongs at Churchill Downs, which came after finishing second in the Purple Martin at Oaklawn Park to Kimari, subsequent Group 1 Commonwealth Cup runner-up at Royal Ascot.
Fletcher, a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, who owns Fletcher Auto Group, said he was hoping to see his special filly get a stakes win at his home track.
“I really wanted to win that race because it was at my home track, but the horse that beat us that day looks like a really nice one,” Fletcher said.
Frank's Rockette is out of the graded stakes-winning Indian Charlie broodmare Rocket Twentyone, who won the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Lassie as a 2-year-old and was trained by the late Tom Howard, whose wife Kathy serves as Fletcher's racing manager.
Howard said she sees a lot of similarities between Frank's Rockette and Rocket Twentyone.
“They look so much alike it's uncanny,” Howard said. “She's had foals before this one and I never saw any similarities, but this one was different. I remember watching her run in her first race and she did things just like her mother.”
Howard, a former jockey, has been acquainted with Mott for many years, having ridden horses for the trainer and relishes the opportunity to work with the horseman in a different role.
“Billy Mott is just a really good guy,” Howard said. “He's a true and solid individual. He was good to me back then and put me on some winners and he's still a good guy today.”
Fletcher names all of his horses to honor his longhaired German Shepherd named Rocket.
“I'm currently on Rocket number three,” Fletcher said, adding that his prior two dogs named Rocket each lived to be 11 years old. “I've probably had hundreds of horses over the years with the name 'Rocket'. Years ago, I had a nice one named Son of Rocket who ran third in the [2001] Arkansas Derby and won the Southwest and we had some fun with him. But this one's a filly, so now we have a Rockette.”
Listed as the 3-5 morning line favorite, Frank's Rockette will blast out of the inside post under Hall of Famer John Velazquez in the Victory Ride.
The post Fletcher Looking For Homebred Filly To ‘Rocket’ To Lead In Victory Gallop appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
