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Frank’s Rockette Pleases Mott With ‘Smooth’ Move, Leaning Toward Facing Males Males In Sprint

Trainer Bill Mott has four of his six Breeders' Cup pre-entrants at Keeneland, and he put that quartet through works on a breezy Sunday morning over a fast surface on the Lexington, Ky., track.

First at 6:30 a.m. was Frank Fletcher Racing Operations' Frank's Rockette going the half in :49 under Neil Poznansky. Next working together were Juddmonte Farms' Tacitus and Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, R. A. Hill Stable and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing's Channel Maker with Tacitus going 5 furlongs in 1:00 and Channel Maker a half in :47.40. Finally, There's A Chance Stable, Medallion Racing, Abbondanza Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Paradise Farms and David Staudacher's Horologist worked in a half in :47.40 under Poznansky.

Frank's Rockette is pre-entered in both the Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) at 7 furlongs and the Sprint (G1) against males going 6 furlongs.

“She went nice and easy,” Mott said of the work. “She went smooth and was really relaxed. I was very happy. She was very typical of when she works by herself.

“I will speak with the connections later today, but I am leaning toward the Sprint. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. The Sprint will be a tough race, but we know she is good at 6 furlongs. The Sprint probably will have a full field, probably 14 horses, whereas the Filly and Mare Sprint will probably have no more than 10. That does come into the equation. The seven-eighths of a mile in the Filly and Mare Sprint comes into the equation as well.”

Tacitus (Classic) worked with Felipe Castro aboard while Poznansky was aboard Channel Maker (Turf).

“Tactitus and Channel Maker went very good,” Mott said. “Tacitus was tracking Channel Maker. We went just a half-mile with Channel Maker. He was nice and sharp and doing it the right way. Tacitus tracked him a couple of lengths back and joined him in the stretch. We had Tacitus go out another furlong afterward and then gallop out.”

The post Frank’s Rockette Pleases Mott With ‘Smooth’ Move, Leaning Toward Facing Males Males In Sprint appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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From TDN Look: The Incomparable, Invincible, Unbeatable Cigar

Twenty-five years ago, Cigar put together a perfect 10-for-10 season in the middle of a streak of 16 straight wins. We remember it here.

It was the sixth race on an ordinary Friday card in October at Aqueduct some 26 years ago and there was nothing to suggest that the $34,000 allowance event would ever have any relevance. Jose Santos was aboard the favorite, a recent allowance winner who started out at Suffolk Downs named Golden Plover. Julie Krone had the mount for Tom Skiffington on second-choice Taddarruj. The third choice in the field of six was a Bill Mott-trained 4-year-old making the switch over to dirt after a lackluster 11-race run on the turf. His name was Cigar.

That’s where and how it began, on a quiet fall day at the Big A when no one could have seen this coming. Owned by Allen Paulson, Cigar started off his career in California for trainer Alex Hassinger, Jr., winning just two of nine starts. Transferred to the barn of Bill Mott, he lost another four straight races, all of them allowances on the grass. Perhaps the shift to the dirt would help. They were running out of options.

“It was just the process of elimination for us,” Mott said. “We tried him on the turf and that wasn’t working out well enough, so we switched him to the dirt. There was no magic in it.”

Cigar was dominant that day, winning by eight lengths. Twenty-one months, nine racetracks and two countries later, Cigar had pieced together an historic 16-race winning streak that is among the most extraordinary feats put together by a modern horse. It was the streak that would earn him two Horse of the Year titles, 11 Grade I wins, a spot in the Hall of Fame and legendary status. It was a streak that, for those who were part of it, will be forever etched in their memories.

I was fortunate to be there for almost all of it, 14 of the 16 wins. That was at a time when newspapers still mattered and not all had given up on horse racing. I was the racing writer for the New York Daily News, which allowed me to dart around the country, and to Dubai, to follow this horse.

“Greatness is neither easy to describe nor to qualify, but the criteria surely includes the ability to rise to any challenge, to be invincible,” I wrote after Cigar won the 1996 Dubai World Cup, his 14th straight win. “This is Cigar, a champion.”

Such breathless praise might ordinarily seem over the top, but not with this horse. He did what no other horse had done since the great Citation in 1948, who also won 16 in a row. Always show up. Always win. As the streak stretched on, through New York, California, Massachusetts, Florida, he really did seem to be invincible.

“Somebody asked me one time, ‘Was he the best horse that you ever rode?'” said Jerry Bailey, who was aboard Cigar for 15 of his 16 wins during the streak. “I think he’s almost the best horse anybody could have ever ridden.”

Click to continue reading and to watch the tribute video at TDN Look.

The post From TDN Look: The Incomparable, Invincible, Unbeatable Cigar appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Mott Leaning Toward Running Frank’s Rockette Against Males In Sprint

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott worked a trio of Breeders' Cup contenders, including Tacitus, Channel Maker and Frank's Rockette at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., over the weekend, as well as Horologist on the Oklahoma training track on Friday at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York.

Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, R.A. Hill Stable and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing's multiple Grade 1-winner Channel Maker worked inside of Juddmonte Farms' multiple graded-stakes winner Tacitus Saturday on Big Sandy though a half-mile in 48.71 seconds, reaching five eighths in 1:01.2 and out six furlongs in 1:15.

“They went well. It was a very useful work and I'm happy enough with them,” said Mott.

Channel Maker secured his fourth Grade 1 win last out with a stellar front-running performance in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on October 3. That performance matched the career-best 108 Beyer Speed Figure earned by Channel Maker in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer on August 29 over soft going at Saratoga.

Channel Maker will be making his third attempt at the 12-furlong Grade 1 Breeders' Turf, and Mott said he is cautiously optimistic of his chances.

“There's a lot of them that don't get that,” said Mott with a laugh regarding a Breeders' Cup win. “His last couple of races have been good. We'll know a lot more after pre-entries tomorrow about how he looks in there.”

Channel Maker's other Grade 1 scores were secured in the 2018 Turf Classic Invitational and 2019 Man o' War at Belmont.

The regally bred Tacitus, a 4-year-old Tapit grey who boasts a record of 14-4-4-3 with more than $2.9 million in earnings, is out of the champion mare Close Hatches.

Tacitus captured the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby and Grade 2 Wood Memorial last year and added the Grade 2 Suburban to his ledger in July at Belmont. He will enter the Breeders' Cup Classic in search of a first Grade 1 win after hitting the board in the Kentucky Derby, Runhappy Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup as a sophomore and this year in the Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup where he was a last-out third.

Frank's Rockette, owned by Frank Fletcher Racing Operations, worked a half-mile Sunday in 49.42 in company with unraced 3-year-old filly Strings Attached on the Belmont dirt training track.

“It was a good, even work. We wanted to go in 49 and that's about what we did. It was a nice, useful work,” said Mott.

The Into Mischief filly posted a 7 3/4-length victory in the Grade 2, $150,000 Gallant Bloom last out at Belmont to mark her fourth consecutive triumph and third straight graded score following wins in the Grade 3 Victory Ride in July at Belmont and the Grade 2 Prioress in September at Saratoga.

While Frank's Rockette is under consideration for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at seven furlongs on November 7 at Keeneland, Mott said he is more than like to enter the speedy filly against the boys in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint, which offers a potentially more favorable distance of six furlongs.

“Right now, were thinking about the Sprint,” said Mott.

There's A Chance Stable, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Medallion Racing and Abbondanza Racing's New Jersey-bred Horologist breezed a bullet five-eighths Friday in 1:00.61 on the Oklahoma training track.

“She worked super,” said Mott. “She is coming around nicely. Her last win was good.”

The 4-year-old Gemologist bay captured the Grade 2 Beldame last out on October 4 at Belmont and is to be supplemented to the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff.

A multiple graded-stakes winner, Horologist captured the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks last year and added Monmouth's Grade 3 Molly Pitcher to her ledger in July.

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Oct. 23 Insights

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency

DAUGHTER OF PLUM PRETTY DEBUTS IN NY

1st-BEL, $80K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1m, 12:20p.m.

PLUM AWESOME (Curlin), the latest offspring of GI Kentucky Oaks victress Plum Pretty (Medaglia d’Oro), makes her career bow in this spot for Todd Pletcher. Mandy Pope purchased dual Grade I winner and millionaire Plum Pretty for $4.2-million at the 2012 KEENOV sale and she has produced one winner from three to race thus far. Also debuting in this test is Gary and Mary West homebred Wedding Band (Candy Ride {Arg}), who is out of an unraced half-sister to Hall of Famer and four-time Eclipse winner Curlin (Smart Strike). Juddmonte homebred Millefeuille (Curlin) makes her second attempt here for Bill Mott. A close second on debut over track and trip Sept. 26, she breezed a bullet five furlongs in 1:01 flat (1/5) over a sloppy Oklahoma training track at Saratoga Oct 16. The bay’s second dam is Grade I winner Honest Lady (Seattle Slew), who is responsible for Grade I-winning sire First Defence (Unbridled’s Song) and stakes winners Honest Mischief (Into Mischief), Phantom Rose (Danzig) and Honest Quality (Elusive Quality). TJCIS PPs

MOTT UNVEILS JUDDMONTE BLUEBLOOD

10th-BEL, $80K, Msw, 2yo, 1mT, 5:20 p.m.

Bill Mott saddles a well-bred firster in Juddmonte homebred HACHURE (Tapit). The chestnut is a half-brother to Group 1 victor Announce (GB) (Selkirk), GSW & G1SP Mexican Gold (Medaglia d’Oro), MGSP Straight Thinking (Mizzen Mast) and stakes-placed Wessex (Unbridled’s Song) and Vanburgh (First Defence). This is also the family of European champion Zafonic (Gone West) and GSW & MG1SP Zamindar (Gone West). TJCIS PPs

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