Millionaire and two-time Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) runner-up C Z Rocket could return to Oaklawn during the current meet, said Peter Miller, trainer of the 9-year-old gelding who has two previous stakes wins at the Hot Springs, Ark. track.
The Southern California-based C Z Rocket closed his 2022 campaign with runner-up finishes in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G2) Oct. 1 and the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 5 at Keeneland.
“He's doing real good,” Miller said. “He's back in training, galloping, and going to breeze. He could make an appearance [at Oaklawn]. We've got Dubai possibly in mind. We're not sure, but we gave him a little break, five weeks or so, after the Breeders' Cup.”
Miller claimed C Z Rocket for $40,000 out of a fifth-place finish in an April 30, 2020, sprint at Oaklawn. The gelding then ripped off five consecutive victories, including the Santa Anita Sprint Championship, before finishing second to that year's eventual Eclipse Award winner Whitmore in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland.
C Z Rocket returned to Oaklawn in 2021 and toppled Whitmore in the Hot Springs Stakes and the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3). Both races were for older horses at six furlongs.
C Z Rocket was beaten 1 ¼ lengths by Elite Power, then 4, in last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint. A son of the late City Zip, C Z Rocket has a 12-6-5 record from 35 career starts and earnings of $1,952,641. He is campaigned by Altamira Racing Stabole, Madaket Stables, Gary Barbeer, and Tom Kagele,
“If you don't like him, you don't like a horse,” Miller said.
Oaklawn's next sprint stakes for older horses is the $150,000 King Cotton Jan. 28. Miller said he could have a candidate for the six-furlong race in recent stable addition Radical Right, who was purchased for $260,000 at Fasig Tipton's December Midlantic mixed sale. The First Samurai gelding finished second in the City of Laurel Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters Nov. 26 at Laurel in his last start.
Radical Right has four published workouts at San Luis Rey Training Center in Southern California since Dec. 24. Radical Right was purchased in December by Tom Kagele, who also co-owns C Z Rocket.
“Seems like a nice horse,” Miller said.
Miller has around eight horses stabled at Oaklawn, including Ginobili, winner of Fifth Season Stakes on Saturday.
The post ‘If You Don’t Like Him, You Don’t Like A Horse’: C Z Rocket’s 2023 Campaign Could Include Oaklawn, Dubai appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
