November, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Rockefeller Rockets To Graded Stakes Victory In Nashua

In his third career start, Rockefeller improved on his last-out fourth-place finish behind Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Corniche in the American Pharoah Stakes and won the G3 Nashua Stakes on the closing day card at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. The son of Medaglia d'Oro withstood early pressure from Speaking and pulled away in the stretch to win by 2 3/4 lengths.

Breaking from post one, Rockefeller and Luis Saez went straight to the lead, with Speaking pressing to his outside, a half-length off the lead. Around the far turn, Rockefeller extended his lead to a length, as Speaking began to tire and the field attempted to catch up with the leader.

In the stretch, Cooke Creek and Judge Davis put in their closing bids, but the Baffert-trained Rockefeller easily pulled away from the field, stretching his lead out in the race's final furlong. The final time for the one-mile G3 Nashua Stakes was 1:36.66. Cooke Creek and Judge Davis were second and third. Midnight Worker, Cairama, and Speaking rounded out the field.

Find this race's chart here.

Rockefeller paid $3.60, $3.30, and $2.40. Cooke Creek paid $5.50 and $3.60. Judge Davis paid $2.70.

Bred in Kentucky by Colts Neck Stables, Rockefeller is out of the Speightstown mare Dance to Bristol, a multiple graded stakes winner. He is owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, and Robert E. Masterson. The 2-year-old colt was consigned by Mill Ridge Sales and sold to SF/Starlight/Madaket for $750,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. With his win in the Nashua, Rockefeller has two wins in three starts for career earnings of $142,500.

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Rockefeller Wires the Nashua

Rockefeller went wire-to-wire to win the GIII Nashua S. at Belmont Park Sunday. The bay colt, sent off at 4-5, sprinted out to the early lead and was pressed by Speaking (Mr Speaker) through a quarter in :23.02 and a half in :46.75. Cooke Creek rolled up four wide to challenge entering the lane, but the favorite shrugged off that foe in upper stretch and scampered clear to an authoritative victory.

“I knew the other horses would break from there running, but we have a lot of speed, so Bob [Baffert] told me to break from there and send him and see if they can keep with us,” said winning jockey Luis Saez, who was riding Rockefeller for the first time. “That was the plan, to break from there running. He kept at it. He's a very talented horse. He's still learning but he has a lot of talent. I think he's going to be a nice horse. It was great to get the mount.”

A front-running debut winner sprinting six furlongs at Del Mar Aug. 28, Rockefeller was coming off a fourth-place effort behind Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Corniche (Quality Road) in the Oct. 1 GI American Pharoah S.

Pedigree Notes:

Rockefeller is a son of 2013 GI Ballerina S. winner Dance to Bristol. The mare has a yearling colt by Candy Ride (Arg)–who sold for $400,000 to Mike Ryan at this year's Keeneland September sale–and a weanling filly by Into Mischief.

The juvenile is the 84th graded winner for Medaglia d'Oro and the 39th graded winner out of a Speightstown mare.

Sunday, Belmont Park
NASHUA S.-GIII, $150,000, Belmont, 11-7, 2yo, 1m, 1:36.66, ft.
1–ROCKEFELLER, 118, c, 2, by Medaglia d'Oro
1st Dam: Dance to Bristol (GISW, $980,880),
                                by Speightstown
                2nd Dam: Dance to Dawn, by Louis Quatorze
                3rd Dam: Expressive Dance, by Riva Ridge
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($750,000
Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket
Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC and Robert E. Masterson;
B-Colts Neck Stables LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Luis Saez.
$82,500. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $142,500. Werk Nick
   Rating: B+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Cooke Creek, 120, c, 2, Uncle Mo–Genre, by Bernardini.
O-Cheyenne Stable LLC; B-Candy Meadows LLC (KY);
T-Jeremiah O'Dwyer. $30,000.
3–Judge Davis, 118, c, 2, Distorted Humor–Mylitta, by Sky
Mesa. ($280,000 Ylg '20 FTKSEL). O-Courtlandt Farms (Donald
& Donna Adam); B-Edward A. Seltzer (KY); T-Claude R.
McGaughey III. $18,000.
Margins: 2 3/4, 2 3/4, 2 3/4. Odds: 0.80, 9.20, 3.80.
Also Ran: Midnight Worker, Cairama, Speaking.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Pyledriver On Track For Hong Kong Bid

Group 1 winner Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) will return in the Betway Churchill S. at Lingfield next weekend before an intended start in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase in December. The 4-year-old, who claimed the G2 King Edward VII S. and G2 Great Voltigeur S. at three, had an abbreviated two-start campaign this season. Second by 2 1/4 length in the G2 Jockey Club S. at Newmarket making his 4-year-old bow, Pyledriver clawed his way to a neck victory in Epsom's G1 Coronation Cup over Al Aasy (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) on June 4. He was due to run in the G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern on Sunday, but co-trainer William Muir opted for the Lingfield contest instead. After his Asian target, the entire will be aimed at the Saudi Cup meeting at the end of February prior to a Dubai campaign.

Muir said, “We decided after Martin [Dwyer] rode him on Tuesday not to go to Germany. Martin asked what our target was–I told him the Hong Kong Vase, and he said that he'd run well in Germany but he'd come on for the run.

“The train we'd planned to take was cancelled, so we'd have to have gone via ferry and we thought we'd go to Lingfield on Saturday instead. While that is not his ideal trip [10 furlongs], we'll use it as a prep for Hong Kong.

“It's the sort of thing the big trainers do quite often, run them over a trip short of their best so it doesn't push them as much. He'll give everything, as he always does, but Martin felt a run would put him spot on–and he said he's never felt as strong.

“It was only a minor setback he had–we went through the exact programme the vet said, and we've not had a hiccup or anything. But our main target had to be the Hong Kong Vase, and then his winter campaign starts, Saudi in February and then Dubai–three very big races.”

He added, “To have started off throwing him straight back into a Group 1 may have been tough on him. I was also worried about the ground, but in fairness it's good out there. I think he'd have gone close if we'd gone, but Martin just felt he'd come on for a run.

“He's won a Group 1. He's going to be a horse to campaign all around the world now. Had it been a week later, I might have gone to Germany, but I'm looking forward to Lingfield now.”

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Knicks Go Possible for Pegasus

Korea Racing Association's Knicks Go (Paynter), fresh off an emphatic victory in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar Saturday, could cap his career in the Jan. 29 GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park, trainer Brad Cox confirmed Sunday.

“If he comes out of it good and he trains well, we'll point for the Pegasus,” Cox said. “It's a good purse, it's a surface he likes and if he's doing well, there have been horses that won the Breeders' Cup and ended their careers with that, between the likes of Gun Runner and City of Light. It's always a nice race that you can pick off hopefully before going off to stud.”

Knicks Go is expected to begin his stud career at Taylor Made Farm next year.

The $3-million Pegasus could also be the target of Saturday's GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Life Is Good (Into Mischief).

“That's what we'd spoke about prior to the race that our sort of two-race plan was the Mile and then stretch him out farther in the Pegasus,” trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday. “He certainly ran well enough to proceed in that direction if everything goes smoothly, but we haven't really had any time to really firmly discuss our entire plans yet. I'm sure once everybody gets back to their headquarters, we'll have that conversation.”

China Horse Club and WinStar Farm's Life is Good, knocked off the Triple Crown trail earlier this year by an ankle chip, was a narrow second in his comeback race, the seven-furlong GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial at Saratoga and won the one-mile GII Kelso H. by 5 1/2 lengths Belmont Park Sept. 25 before his Breeders' Cup victory.

“It was everything that we were hoping for and then maybe even more,” Pletcher said of Saturday's victory at Del Mar. “The horse had trained spectacularly coming into the race and I felt like he was sitting on a big race. When he broke cleanly, you could tell they were going quickly and there were some other horses trying to be involved. My first concern was just, hopefully, he hadn't gone too fast, but it seemed like he was relaxed and settled. In spite of the fact that he was rolling right along, he was doing it comfortably. I think that's kind of what we've come to expect from him. He's one of those horses that's extremely fast, has a very high cruising speed and the ability to continue doing it. What was even more impressive to me than the :21 and four and :44 and change and 1:08 and change, is that he essentially won geared down. Then Irad [Ortiz] had to reach up and grab a hold of him in the middle of the turn. Galloping out, he was still full of horse. I don't think he could have been any more impressive.”

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