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Miss Mosaic Goes Out On Top In American Beauty

Keystone Racing LLC's Miss Mosaic rode off into the sunset with a victory in Saturday's $150,000 American Beauty Stakes at Oaklawn by closing out her career with a neck victory before 22,000 fans.

The 6-year-old daughter of Verrazano is now slated for retirement after getting her first stakes victory in the six-furlong race over Joy's Rocket. Ain't No Elmers finished third. Li'l Tootsie, the 2-1 favorite, finished sixth.

“The trainer told me to just try not to get into trouble,” said jockey David Cabrera of the instructions sent by Kentucky-based trainer Ben Colebrook. “Once I got her sitting comfortable, she was just relaxed, so I knew they were going to have a tough time catching us.”

Miss Mosaic brings a glittering pedigree to the breeding shed, joining two siblings with stakes wins on their resumes, including Miss Temple City a multiple Grade 1-winner. The victory snapped a three-race string of second-place finishes including a runner-up performance in the Mrs. Claus Stakes at Parx Racing last month.

“It's an amazing story,” said winning owner/breeder Aaron Jutte, who noted the mare will now be bred to top sire Tapit. “We had a lot of trouble with her, Miss Mosaic, in her early career and gave her a bunch of time off. As a single owner, you don't have to worry about partners at that point, so you can give her all the time off in the world you want. Just like 2-year-old stuff and so we just gave her, basically, her 2-year-old and halfway through her 3-year-old career off. She didn't make a start until she was at the end of her 3-year-old career.”

The filly Sarah Harper set the pace but gave way at the top of the stretch to Miss Mosaic. The field chased her home as she finished in 1:10 3/5 over a fast track. She returned $16.80, $8.20 and $5.40 at odds of 7-1.

Racing resumes Sunday with a 12:30 p.m. first post.

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Perfect Happiness: Owner Paul Farr Has More Than Horses To Root For On Saturday

The Pack is Back Saturday in Green Bay, Wis., and Hot Springs. Paul Farr has a strong rooting interest in both places.

Farr, 54, is a self-described mega fan of the Green Bay Packers, who host the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL Divisional playoffs Saturday night. Farr also owns more than 100 horses, mostly in partnerships, including two entered Saturday afternoon at Oaklawn – Warrior's Battle in the fifth race and Perfect Happiness in the eighth race, the $150,000 American Beauty Stakes for older female sprinters.

Farr's game plan? Watch the races on a huge outdoor television from the “tailgate patio” of his townhouse in Green Bay's Titletown district, then walk a block to iconic Lambeau Field to watch the Packers.

“It's the same spot that we watched Perfect Happiness' victory the last game I was home for, last game or the game before, I forget,” Farr said. “Everybody was cheering her on. She had like three seconds in a row and she broke one. We're indoctrinating as many people as we can into horse racing.”

Farr resides in Center Valley, Pa., about 50 miles north of Philadelphia, but he's originally from Green Bay and began attending Packers games as a child. Farr's home is now a shrine to the team, with approximately 2,000 square feet in his basement remodeled to mimic the Packers locker room at Lambeau Field.

Among Farr's most prized pieces of Packers memorabilia are game-used jerseys of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Bart Starr, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers and Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Don Hutson and cleats worn by player/coach Curly Lambeau, who co-founded the team in 1919.

Farr also said he has two rings from Super Bowl XXXI – Green Bay beat New England 35-21 in 1997 – an NFC championship ring from that season, team-themed watches and pendants from the 1920s and 1930s and team-signed footballs from the 1930s.

“Everybody that collects, like, fights for it,” said Farr, whose primary occupation is funding start-up companies. “You have that: 'Well, this is what I have. Like, I can one up you.' It's that kind of thing. There's a known universe of people that kind of collect it like that.”

Farr's collection of horses is growing, too. After dabbling in ownership roughly a decade ago, Farr began investing more heavily in 2019, initially as a partner (fractional ownership) through the nationally prominent Ten Strike Racing of co-founders Marshall Gramm and Arkansas native Clay Sanders.

Farr was already friends with Pennsylvania owner Michael Caruso, who, in partnership, campaigned 2018 and 2020 Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl. During a trip to Churchill Downs, Farr said he wanted to see Monomoy Girl at trainer Brad Cox's barn. That meeting led to an introduction to Liz Crow, who is Ten Strike's racing manager, and eventually Gramm and Sanders. Cox is also one of Ten Strike's trainers.

Multiple stakes winners Whereshetoldmetogo and Grade 3 winner Lady Rocket were among the first horses Farr had with Ten Strike. Farr is now involved in numerous other partnerships, campaigning horses with the likes of Sol Kumin, West Point Thoroughbreds and Staton Flurry of Hot Springs.

Farr also races horses under his Titletown banner – Green Bay's nickname is “Titletown” after winning an NFL record 13 world championships – and said he owns pieces of more than 120 overall.

“From 2 ½ percent to 100 percent,” said Farr, who also solely owns 16 broodmares, including Is It Gold, a half-sister to champion Swiss Skydiver. “It's rare that I buy 100 percent. There's only like five or six of those.”

Titletown Racing Stables already has been represented by four winners at the 2021-2022 Oaklawn meeting – Perfect Happiness (Dec. 12 allowance sprint), Warrior's Battle (Dec. 5 maiden-claiming sprint and Jan. 7 starter/optional claiming sprint) and Magnolia Midnight (Jan. 15 allowance sprint).

Flurry co-owns Perfect Happiness, who is trained by Cox. Other partners in the Dallas Stewart-trained Magnolia Midnight include West Point Thoroughbreds. Warrior's Battle is a 3-year-old half-sister to Warrior's Charge, the millionaire multiple Grade 3 winner for Cox and Ten Strike. Farr doesn't have a financial stake in Warrior's Charge, but he was at Oaklawn for the horse's victory in the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) in 2020.

Warrior's Battle, co-owned by Ten Strike, was purchased for $50,000 at the 2019 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. The daughter of Khozan, also trained by Cox, carried Farr's Green Bay-themed silks Jan. 7 and was scheduled to be sold about a week later at Keeneland's January Horses of All Ages Sale before being withdrawn.

“We didn't believe that that was the best way to optimize value,” Farr said. “Like, she had more to prove. She looked like she handled that last group well.”

Warrior's Battle is the 3-1 program favorite for Saturday's fifth race, a starter/optional claimer at 1 mile, which will mark her two-turn debut. Perfect Happiness (8-1) will be making her stakes debut in the 6-furlong American Beauty. The Packers, meanwhile, are 5 ½-point favorites.

“I'm hoping it will go well against San Francisco, so we'll see,” Farr said.

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Frank’s Rockette Returns To Winning Ways In American Beauty

Frank Fletcher Racing Operations, Inc's multiple Grade 2 winner Frank's Rockette lived up to her 1-2 odds and returned to the winner's circle after making a successful 2021 debut in Saturday's $150,000 American Beauty Stakes at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark. The 4-year-old filly was making her first start since taking on older males in the Breeders' Cup Sprint last November.

Breaking from post 7 under jockey Florent Geroux, Frank's Rockette raced just to the outside of 2019 American Beauty winner Amy's Challenge and stayed within easy striking distance through early fractions of :21 3/5 and :44 3/5 before edging clear of her rival to win by 1 ¼ lengths. Her final time was 1:10 over a muddy track. Wildwood's Beauty was third.

“She broke very alertly, which gave me a great option to be right there off the speed without any effort,” Geroux said. “And, from there, I was just continuing to get pressure on Amy's Challenge because when she's on the lead she can be very difficult to pass. I wanted to make sure I didn't give my filly too much to do down the lane. But she was very professional and when I asked her to go down the lane, she was all in and she gave me everything she had.”

Frank's Rockette, a homebred daughter of Into Mischief, improved her record to 7-4-0 in 12 starts and has now earned $696,103. She returned $3.20, $2.40 and $2.10 as the heavy favorite.

“Nice to see her come off the bench,” trainer Bill Mott add via phone. “It's great. What makes it better is Mr. (Frank) Fletcher was there at his home track and he was there, so, you know I mean, that's like winning two. She ran on an off track there last year, but the bottom line is she ran into a very good filly (Kimari). Florent (Geroux) thought she handled it well enough today. Knowing she was second against a really good filly there last year, I felt she would handle it. Is it her favorite surface? Well, I don't know. But she certainly handled it well enough today.”

Frank's Rockette was saddled by Sebastian “Bas” Nicholl, longtime assistant to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Frank's Rockette shipped into Lukas' barn.

Live racing resumes Sunday at Oaklawn with a 1 p.m. first post.

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Frank’s Rockette ‘Blossomed A Little Bit Quicker This Year,’ Favored In Oaklawn’s American Beauty

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said he has no long-term 2021 goals for multiple Grade 2 winner Frank's Rockette, adding it's simply one step at a time.

That first step begins with the $150,000 American Beauty Stakes for older female sprinters Saturday at Oaklawn. The 6-furlong race marks a homecoming of sorts for Frank's Rockette, a homebred for prominent North Little Rock, Ark., businessman Frank Fletcher who finished second in the $100,000 Purple Martin Stakes for 3-year-old filly sprinters last April at Oaklawn.

Frank's Rockette, based with Mott in south Florida, was again vanned to Hot Springs. She arrived at 4 a.m. (Central) Tuesday and jogged Wednesday morning, Mott said, in advance of her 2021 debut. She is the 2-1 program favorite for the American Beauty.

“I always look at the Oaklawn schedule because Mr. Fletcher lives there,” Mott said. “If it's six of one, half a dozen of the other and it looks like that there might be a race that suits us over there, I'm sure he would enjoy seeing them run at Oaklawn. That's the reason we're there. I'm sure we could have found a race somewhere else. This one seems to fit the way she was doing, timewise, and, of course, the distance helped.”

Frank's Rockette emerged as one of the country's top female sprinters last year. After finishing second to Kimari in the Purple Martin, Frank's Rockette won her next four starts, including the $100,000 Victory Ride Stakes (G3) July 4 at Belmont Park, $200,000 Prioress Stakes (G2) Sept. 5 at Saratoga and the $150,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap (G2) Oct. 3 at Belmont Park. Citing 6 furlongs as a major hook, Mott opted to challenge males in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland, where Frank's Rockette concluded her 2020 campaign with an 11th-place finish. She was beaten 8 ¼ lengths by Whitmore, a seven-time Oaklawn stakes winner and Eclipse Awards finalist for champion male sprinter of 2020.

“She showed up every time, except maybe the last race,” Mott said. “It was a tough race. Naturally, it was a step into deep water. But with that being said, she really didn't seem to run her 'A' race in there, either. Hopefully, that's behind us and we're going to come back into good form.”

Frank's Rockette received what Mott termed a “working vacation” following the Breeders' Cup and remained in “very light training.” She has five published workouts since Dec. 24 at Payson Park Training Center, the last a 3-furlong move in :35.80 Sunday morning.

“She's actually seemed to have blossomed a little bit quicker this year,” Mott said. “Last year, she stayed a little light in the early part of the winter and really didn't start looking good until like midsummer. But she seems like she's carrying good flesh and doing quite well right at the moment.”

Oaklawn's stakes series for older female sprinters continues with the $200,000 Spring Fever Feb. 27 and the $250,000 Carousel April 10. Mott said he has no specific targets in mind for Frank's Rockette following the American Beauty or any long-range objectives like securing a first Grade 1 victory or returning to the Breeders' Cup.

“We'll play that card when it confronts us,” Mott said. “I'm going to say it's just one at a time. It seems like every time she runs, we look the schedule over and discuss the next one.”

A daughter of super sire Into Mischief, Frank's Rockette has a 6-4-0 record from 11 career starts and earnings of $606,103.

Mott was Oaklawn's leading trainer in 1986 and has 18 career stakes victories in Hot Springs, the last coming in 2014 with Close Hatches in the $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares. Close Hatches was voted the country's champion older dirt female that year.

Mott won the $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G1) for older horses in 1995 with Cigar, who was crowned Horse of the Year in 1995 and 1996.

Mott won three races at the 2020 Oaklawn meeting.

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