Triple Crown Weekend Prep Report Card: No Risk, No Reward

A trio of graded stakes for 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail was contested on Feb. 6, and all three races – two of which offered 17 Kentucky Derby qualifying points on a 10-4-2-1 basis to the top four finishers – look more like steppingstones than definitive contests. Most of the horses contesting these races were unproven at the stakes level, but you have to start somewhere. No risk, no reward.

None of the weekend's races has been overly productive for Triple Crown success.

The Grade 3 Withers has been around since 1874, run at different New York tracks but only moved to February at Aqueduct in 2012. Before that, Bernardini used the Withers in 2006 as a tune-up for his victory in the G1 Preakness Stakes. No winner since has been victorious in a Triple Crown race.

The G3 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs has been a gateway race to bigger and better things for several horses in recent years. Most notably, Tapwrit, the Davis runner-up to McCraken in 2017, would win that year's G1 Belmont Stakes, doing one better than 2016 Davis winner Destin, who fell a nose short of Creator in the Belmont. Both Tapwrit and Destin were trained by Todd Pletcher.

Finally, the G2 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita – the only one of the three races not offering Kentucky Derby points – has a solid roster of winners led by 1997 Kentucky Derby-Preakness victor Silver Charm and by 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist. At seven furlongs, it's often used as a starting point for 3-year-olds getting ready to stretch out to longer distances.

Before we look at those three race winners, there was also a highly anticipated maiden event on Sunday at Santa Anita involving one of the most hyped horses of the year, Bezos, a colt by Empire Maker from the Bob Baffert stable. The massive colt, weighing in at over 1,300 pounds, was being compared to horses like Triple Crown winner Justify, who didn't make his first start until mid-February. Bezos had trained forwardly last year, from early May through late July. Baffert backed off until late in the year, with the colt breezing 10 times from early December until his debut, where he was made the 3-5 favorite.

Bezos, ridden by Mike Smith, got a perfect trip in the 6 ½-furlong race, sitting just behind dueling pacesetters for the opening half mile. But when the field turned for home, Bezos came up empty, winding up seventh of nine runners, beaten 15 ¼ lengths by a 20-1 longshot named Dream Shake, a Twirling Candy colt making his career debut for Peter Eurton.

Dream Shake is geared down nearing the wire by Joel Rosario

With Joel Rosario in the saddle, Dream Shake broke alertly from the outside post and remained wide throughout. Eighth after the opening quarter mile (in a slow :23.40), Dream Shake made a strong run from inside the half mile pole to the quarter pole that brought him into contention. He quickly moved to the lead while still wide, was under an aggressive hand ride from Rosario and got one tap of the whip in midstretch while pulling away. He was wrapped up in the end, winning by 4 ¾ lengths in 1:17.34 on a fast track and earning a 96 Beyer Speed Figure that was higher than any of the weekend Triple Crown prep stakes winners.

Bred by Dunwoody Farm, Dream Shake was a $32,000 pinhook from the Keeneland September Yearling Sale that Cary Frommer sold for $75,000 at the OBS Spring Sale of 2-year-olds in training. He races for Exline-Border Racing, SAF Racing and Richard Hausman.

Now, on to the three stakes races. My Report Card grades are on an A to F scale and are subjective, based on my personal “eyeball test,” Beyer Speed Figures from Daily Racing Form, historical significance of the race and perceived quality of field.

Feb. 6 Withers Stakes, 1 1/8 miles, Aqueduct

Risk Taking was made the 19-10 favorite off a solid maiden win in his third career start on Dec. 13 going 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct. Trainer Chad Brown debuted the Medaglia d'Oro colt sprinting at Belmont October 10 when he raced in seventh throughout. Next start was going 1 1/16 miles on turf, where Risk Taking was a non-threatening sixth. Blinkers were added for his maiden-breaking score and that seems to have awakened Risk Taking.

Risk Taking and Eric Cancel at the wire in the Withers

The Withers field included Capo Kane, the runaway winner of the one-turn Jerome Stakes (graded by me as a C-) on Jan. 1, and Jerome runner-up Eagle Orb. As expected, Capo Kane set the pace, with Eric Cancel keeping Risk Taking in a pocket while racing sixth in the early going. Approaching the far turn, Cancel found a seam and gradually began to gain on the leader, turning into the stretch less than three lengths behind, then ranging up alongside and passing the drifting out leader, Capo Kane, in the final furlong. Risk Taking drew off to win by 3 ¾ lengths, stopping the clock in 1:51.91 and getting an 89 Beyer Speed Figure, a big improvement from his maiden breaking 82 Beyer. Todd Pletcher-trained Overtook, a lumbering Curlin colt coming off a maiden win going one mile, was up for second after trailing early.

Neither the winner or the runner-up showed any early speed or quick acceleration, but both look like further distances would be no problem. There's probably a reason both Risk Taking and Overtook were left in New York for the winter rather than head to Florida where the waters are a little deeper for Triple Crown hopefuls.

From a pedigree standpoint, Risk Taking is by a proven stallion who has sired Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, the brilliant Songbird, and G1 Breeders' Cup Turf winner Talismanic. Risk Taking, bred by G. Watts Humphrey Jr., is out of the Distorted Humor mare Run a Risk and traces back to a very successful female family developed by Ogden Phipps, including fourth dam Con Game, who produced Seeking the Gold and Fast Play, and fifth dam Broadway, who produced Ruffian's sire Reviewer. Risk Taking was purchased on behalf of Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables for $240,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Grade C

Feb. 6 Sam F. Davis Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Tampa Bay Downs

Todd Pletcher-trained Known Agenda was made the 3-2 favorite in the field of 12 in this 1 1/16-mile race, but 3-1 second choice Candy Man Rocket got the job done in workmanlike fashion in his first time around two turns for trainer Bill Mott. The Candy Ride colt, ridden by Junior Alvarado and owned by Frank Fletcher Racing Operations, was one length the best over stablemate Nova Rags (by Union Rags), who had the benefit of a race over the track (winning the Pasco on Jan. 16 and getting a grade of D from me) but also making his two-turn debut.

The third-place finisher, Hidden Stash, gained 4 1/4 lengths on the winner in the final furlong, according to the Equibase chart, and visually did not appear to be accelerating as much as the winner was slowing down.

The final time of 1:44.30 came after a six-furlong clocking of 1:10.80 and mile split in 1:37.22, meaning a final sixteenth in 7.08 seconds and a final five-sixteenths in 33.50. The winner received a Beyer Speed Figure of 85, the same as his maiden win.

Candy Man Rocket and jockey Junior Alvarado winning the Sam F. Davis Stakes

My first thought after watching the Davis was that Bill Mott is not the kind of trainer who is going to try to pound a square peg into a round hole. Candy Man Rocket looked sensational sprinting to a 9 ¼-length victory at Gulfstream Park Jan. 9 in his second career start. He was good enough to win at 1 1/16 miles over a fairly weak field, but it's hard to make a case that he's going to get better as the races get longer. I would not be surprised to see this colt doing his best racing at seven furlongs to a mile in the spring and summer.

From a pedigree standpoint, Candy Ride has been very successful at stud and was a classic-distance winner himself. Like Risk Taking, the real quality in Candy Man Rocket's female family is in the fourth generation where you find 1983 Broodmare of the Year Courtly Dee, dam of Althea and other stakes winners.

Grade C-

Feb. 6 San Vicente Stakes, seven furlongs, Santa Anita

Gary and Mary West's homebred Street Sense colt Concert Tour was favored at 2-5 but was all out to get by Bob Baffert stablemate Freedom Fighter (by Violence) to take down the winner's share of the $200,000 purse.  The latter, away at 5-1 odds, set the early pace in a five-horse field, dueled with the quick California-bred gelding The Chosen Vron, then forgot to read the odds board as he continued to roll down the stretch, not giving way to Concert Tour until the very end, beaten a half length. That was Freedom Fighter's first start since winning his debut at Del Mar Aug. 1 at 1-2 odds, prevailing by a head in a five-furlong tilt.

Concert Tour (outside) overtakes Freedom Fighter in deep stretch to win the San Vicente

The winner also won his debut on Jan. 15 at even money, earning an 88 Beyer Speed Figure (compared to Freedom Fighter's 79 last year).

Baffert has won this race 11 times since Silver Charm's victory in 1997 and said after Concert Tour's victory that he likes using it as a progression for horses like Nadal, the 2020 winner who then stretched out to two turns, taking both the G2 Rebel and a division of the G1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn. Don't be surprised to see Concert Tour try a similar path, as Baffert's No. 1 Derby prospect, Life Is Good, will remain at Santa Anita to contest the G2 San Felipe Stakes on March 6.

Sire Street Sense was precocious enough to win the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at two and won four of eight starts at three, including the Kentucky Derby and G1 Travers at 1 ¼ miles. Concert Tour's dam, Purse Strings (by Tapit), wasn't the most successful racemare, not breaking her maiden until her 12th career start and never racing again, but she appears to have produced a good one in Concert Tour.

Grade B

Coming up this Presidents' Day weekend are the G2 Risen Star from Fair Grounds on Saturday and Monday's G3 Southwest Stakes from Oaklawn.

Previously:

Feb 2 Triple Crown Weekend Prep Report Card

Jan 26 Triple Crown Weekend Prep Report Card

Jan. 18 Triple Crown Weekend Prep Report Card

Jan. 3 Triple Crown Weekend Prep Report Card

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Junior Alvarado’s Derby Prep Win Propels Him To Jockey Of The Week Honors

Junior Alvarado travelled from his winter base of Gulfstream Park to Tampa Bay Downs for their Festival Preview Day and won two of their graded stakes, earning Jockey of the Week honors for Feb. 1 through Feb. 7. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.

Alvarado was given a leg up on Candy Man Rocket by trainer Bill Mott's son and assistant, Riley Mott in the Gr. 3 Sam F. Davis, the centerpiece of the Festival Preview Day.

“I didn't really want to engage the horse up front (Boca Boy) or make any quick move too early. I just had to move a little bit, keep holding my position and wait as long as I could,” Alvarado said. “At the sixteenth pole when I switched my stick to the right hand and showed it to him to see what I had left, he put his head low and kept grinding his way there.”

The margin of victory for the 1-1/16 mile test was a length in 1:44.30.

Earlier on the card, Alvarado had the mount on Get Smokin for trainer Tom Bush in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Stakes, the second choice in the 12-horse field.

“I had to get out of there running. He's a fast horse and he likes to be on the lead, but I knew (Proven Strategies) has a lot of speed too, so it wasn't necessary for me to keep going after him and go head-to-head. I knew the whole way around I had plenty of horse. Turning for home, I was just a passenger…he started picking it up on his own without me asking, so I knew I was in good shape.”

The winning time for the 1-1/16 mile turf test was 1:40.75.

Usually a year-round force on the New York racing circuit, Alvarado returned to south Florida for the winter months for the first time in 12 years to follow Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

Alvarado's statistics for the week were 27-5-2-2 with $322,585 in purse earnings.

Alvarado out-polled Antonio Gallardo who had a stakes win and earned his 2,000th career victory, Irad Ortiz, Jr. who had a stakes win and was leading jockey by wins, Flavien Prat who won the Gr. III Las Virgenes and Joel Rosario who won two graded stakes including the San Vincente.

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Candy Man Putting the Rocket Into Little Rock

It's a philosophy that sustains a stable of Rockets–but it's not rocket science. Anything but, according to Frank Fletcher. “First, you really want to work hard,” he says. “Number two, you got to have a stroke of luck. And, number three, when you get lucky and start being successful, you need to surround yourself with people a lot smarter than you are.”

Let's deal with those in reverse order. Because Fletcher says that the horse we want to discuss is all about the third rule; about the excellence of his help.

Fletcher has owned racehorses through three decades-almost all registered as a Rocket (or Rockette, for the fillies) of some kind, even if the branding can't always extend to their powers of acceleration. Rocket Time (Tiz Wonderful), C Z Rocket (City Zip), There Goes Rocket (Valid Expectations) and so on. So he has been in the game long enough not to be getting carried away by the 10 GI Kentucky Derby starting points earned by Candy Man Rocket (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GIII Sam F. Davis S. last Saturday.

As a proud son of Little Rock, however, Fletcher is daring to wonder whether this colt, whose fourth dam is the matriarch Courtly Dee (Never Bend), might at least have a shot at the GI Arkansas Derby. Up to now he has only ever had one good enough to try, a colt who chased home Curlin (Smart Strike) in the GII Rebel S. but got no closer when following him to the big one.

Candy Man Rocket wins the Sam Davis | SV Photography

That horse was trained by the man who got Fletcher started in racing, the late Oaklawn icon Bob Holthus. They had dinner together down in Shreveport in 1989. “I don't have enough money to buy a horse!” protested Fletcher. Oh yes you do, Frank: Holthus found him a $5,500 claimer, booked Jerry Bailey to wear the new silks and, bingo, a winner's circle photo at the first attempt. That was it: Fletcher was hooked.

There have since been over 100 variations on the Rocket theme, actually a tribute to three cherished German Shepherds who have consecutively carried that name during the same span of years. The numbers have never got out of hand-the stable, managed by ex-jockey Kathleen Moore Howard, currently comprises eight horses-but their orbit seems to be expanding. Last year Frank's Rockette (Into Mischief) ran up a graded-stakes treble and now here's Candy Man Rocket exploding onto the sophomore scene.

And that's all about rule three. “You just have to surround yourself with, really, the best people,” Fletcher reiterates. “I have three great trainers, and Donato Lanni is more than just a buyer. He's a wonderful friend, who's really tried to educate me.”

Lanni has been prospecting sales for Fletcher for around 15 years. Last summer, at the postponed Spring 2-Year-Old Sale, the agent called from OBS. There was a Candy Ride colt right at the start of the auction. He'd worked a quarter in 21 flat but it was a nervous market, in the circumstances, and Lanni thought people would “sit on their hands” early. In fact, five of the first six hips were scratched and the colt-who had failed to meet his reserve both as a weanling and yearling, at $190,000 and $70,000 respectively-was next into the ring from Six K's Training & Sales.

“They dropped the hammer at $250,000,” Fletcher says. “We thought he might go to $500,000. I think we got lucky, bidding an early number. Donato likes to see the breeze and all the normal things but I think more and more important to him these days is their disposition and demeanor, how they act in the stall and when you get up close to them. He really gets inside there. He looked this horse over and over, and thought he was very calm.”

So a new Rocket entered the Fletcher arsenal. After prep with Eddie Woods, as usual, Candy Man Rocket was sent up to Bill Mott's Kentucky division. Before his debut at Churchill in November, Fletcher received a call from Mott's assistant there, Kenny McCarthy. The weather had been terrible, and on the works he had managed the colt would probably run out of gas after half a mile. But he needed to learn about the gate, about the hustle and bustle of racing, and the experience would do him good.

Sure enough, Candy Man Rocket broke alertly and raced handily until fading away in the stretch. Shipped down to Payson Park, last month he lined up for a sprint maiden at Gulfstream and was a revelation, winning by nine lengths. “At the three-eighths pole, he looked like he'd been shot out a rocket,” marvels Fletcher. “He just galloped that race.”

Even so, it was something else again to stretch out last weekend from six furlongs for a race that might put Candy Man Rocket on the Classic trail. Fletcher asked Mott his thinking.

Candy Man Rocket | Ryan Thompson

“Frank,” Mott replied. “He trains well. He looks like he's just full of himself. We have to decide whether we have a sprinter here, or a two-turn horse. The only way to know is to put him in there and see. Because if he is a two-turn horse, now's the time to find out.”

So Saturday was only his second meaningful race and, sitting home in Arkansas, his owner didn't know what to expect.

“We just had no idea,” he says. “I mean, we knew he'd come out of the gate good and told Junior [Alvarado] not to let him get out in the front. During the warm-up, Junior had to have quite a fight with him. He said the horse just was ready to take off right then.     After the race, people called and said, 'I'm afraid that horse bled.' But it was just a small cut on his tongue, from when Junior was trying to keep him from getting away from him. He did a great job, and in the race he shot out of there like a cannon again.”

Yet Candy Man Rocket also saw the race out well. Mott, who also saddled runner-up Nova Rags (Union Rags), is expecting to run one of the pair back in the GII Langholm South Tampa Bay Derby on March 6, but sooner or later this horse will have to try another small stretch.

“We believe he can go any reasonable distance now,” Fletcher says. “We're not scared anymore, because he had plenty of horse at the end. He can feel the horse coming up on him. I don't know what the trainer wants to do, but ultimately I want to work my way up to the Arkansas Derby because that's where I live. But I'm not doing any dreaming, not going crazy at all. I've been asked all kinds of questions but I just want to give him his best opportunity, and we'll see where that takes us.”

That temperate approach will, of course, be matched by the trainer-a man, says Fletcher approvingly, who takes his time with horses and people alike. “Bill Mott is very calm, very deliberate, and thinks things through before he makes a decision,” he says.  “And he has a lot of patience with people like myself that don't know much. Some trainers are too busy to talk. He likes to give horses time between races, and it's just so nice working with him because he won't chase a big deal it if he doesn't think it's time for the horse.”

Now, rule two: that lucky break. Fletcher has built up a portfolio of successful businesses. These days he's known principally for his car dealerships but he's also a realtor, hotelier, restauranteur. There was a time, however, when he was trying to make his way like so many young Americans before and since. His wife Judy was teaching school; Fletcher, after serving in the army, was a bank clerk working evenings in a pizza joint. Then he got a job selling paint for DuPont, and in 1966 made a sales call to a store in Sherwood. It was the second shop opened by a guy named Sam Walton.

Fletcher walked in and said, “I want to sell you 300 gallons of DuPont paint.”

“How much is that?”

“$1,500.”

Walton shook his head.

“Well, that's the smallest amount I can sell you.”

Something about the young man must have appealed to Walton, as he invited him to a lunch at the Harrison Lions Club. While they listened to the speakers, they scribbled on a notepad pushed across the table. Fletcher went off to the payphone, called Atlanta: this guy in Sherwood didn't have the money, could he sell him a smaller batch? No, but he could offer him 120-day payment. More back and forth with the notepad. Eventually Walton wrote: “Who's going to put it on the shelf?” Fletcher replied: “That will be me.”

When Walton was up to around his 20th store, he called Fletcher and asked him to quit DuPont and buy merchandise for Walmart on commission.

“So that was when luck came in,” muses Fletcher. “How lucky can you be, as someone adopted and brought up, not in California or New York, but on a farm in a small state? And who do you meet when you start off your career? I had no idea Sam Walton was going to become the richest man in America.”

Eventually Walmart grew so big that Fletcher's role became redundant. That day was a nasty shock, but he had shown enough over the eight years for Walton to encourage him: Fletcher should open a workshop, and if he came up with a product as good as he expected it would be, he could count on Walmart as a client.

Fletcher rented a garage and started making lamps. By the time he sold that business, in 2010, he was manufacturing in Taiwan and China and turning over $100 million every year. As for the auto sales, those began in 1989 from a mobile home with an awning. There are now dealerships in a dozen brands around Arkansas and Missouri.

But all this goes back to rule one: a work ethic nourished by a disciplined but loving rural upbringing in the years after the war.

“Back then, I think they just came to the hospital and looked through the glass and picked out somebody!” says Fletcher. “I got adopted by some great parents when I was a baby [in 1943]. I enjoyed that life on the farm. Early awake, and early to bed, but a good place to be brought up. I had that all drilled into me and I'm thankful for it.

“Because the sad thing is, I have a lot of friends that just hate work. They go to work because they have to make a living. You're blessed if you can do something that makes your heart beat fast. I don't have any hobbies: don't play golf, don't fish. I work pretty hard, but I do it because I love it. I enjoy getting out of bed, getting my pants on and going to my office-six days a week, at least. I mean, I'm sitting here right now looking at 100-something trade-ins from this weekend. What are we going to do with this car? Wholesale it? Rebuild it? I make a decision on every one that comes in.”

The single hobby he does permit himself, then, represents something of a release valve. And the racetrack, he says with a laugh, is “a good way to get rid of any money that you make.”

He rode horses round the farm as a youngster, and actually in rodeos as a beanpole adolescent. (He was also an all-state basketball player in Junior High.) But his love of animals starts with the German Shepherds.

“I love all dogs, but these are very protective and just wonderful companions,” he says. “When the first Rocket died at age 11, he had cancer, I thought I would never want another one because it hurt so bad. But then about two weeks later, the veterinarian that had tried to keep him alive brought another German Shepherd. I said, 'I don't want that dog. Take him away.' He said, 'Keep him overnight and see.' Next day, of course, I loved him. And then he lived 11 years, and now I'm on Rocket number three, who's seven.”

Frank's Rockette | Sarah Andrew photo

So friends always know that a horse with Rocket in his name is likely part of his stable, and there will be no mistaking the hometown hope if Candy Man Rocket can make the Arkansas Derby. The same card, meanwhile, is already on the agenda for Frank's Rockette, whom Mott is targeting at the Carousel S. She's actually homebred, out of graded stakes winner Rocket Twentyone (Indian Charlie). Frank's Rockette disappointed in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, but she has already resumed her progress with another stakes success at Fletcher's local track a few days ago.

“I made a mistake when I put her in with the colts at the Breeders' Cup,” Fletcher says. “That was the only race in her life that she never tried. She got intimidated, I guess. It was a bad call, but there were some terrific sprinters in the filly division and she had run the times. But I learned a lesson. Otherwise she's never finished less than second in her whole career.”

One way or another, then, Derby Day on their home track in April promises much for Fletcher, his family and friends-and all talk of the Twin Spires can be deferred until then.

“We're still a very small operation,” Fletcher stresses. “We're nowhere near the people I'm competing with. We've been lucky a few times, and we have Frank's Rockette. But we haven't had a colt in a long time. So it's very, very exciting. We're not used to this.”

But go back to his opening premise. Hard work: check. Good luck: check. “And then I figured out right quick that I wasn't very smart,” Fletcher says. “So I hired a great crew around me. Every day, I lean on people who are smarter than I am. And so yes, if you can do that, the little guy can compete.” We've been lucky a few times, and we have Frank's Rockette. But we haven't had a colt in a long time. So it's very, very exciting. We're not used to this.”

But go back to his opening premise. Hard work: check. Good luck: check. “And then I figured out right quick that I wasn't very smart,” Fletcher says. “So I hired a great crew around me. Every day, I lean on people who are smarter than I am. And so yes, if you can do that, the little guy can compete.”

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Mott: Both Candy Man Rocket, Nova Rags ‘Earned Their Way Into Another Prep Race’

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who sent out 1-2 finishers Candy Man Rocket and Nova Rags in Saturday's Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes, said he hopes to return to Tampa Bay Downs with at least one of the 3-year-old colts on March 6 for the Grade 2, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby.

“It was gratifying to see both horses pass the two-turn test,” said Mott, who sent his son Riley Mott to Oldsmar from south Florida for saddling duties. “They both ran big races and it looked like they were strong at the finish. They came out of the race well, so I think both horses would be possible for the (Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby).”

The March 6 card will feature five stakes, four graded, worth a total of $1-million in purse money. The other stakes include the Grade 2, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes for older fillies and mares on the turf; the Grade 3, $200,000 Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on the turf; the Grade 3, $100,000 Challenger Stakes for horses 4-years-old-and-upward on the main track; and the $75,000 Columbia Stakes for 3-year-olds on the turf.

The victory by Candy Man Rocket was the first for Mott, jockey Junior Alvarado and owner Frank Fletcher Racing Operations in the Sam F. Davis. Alvarado also won Saturday's Grade 3, $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes on the turf with 4-year-old gelding Get Smokin, owned by Mary Abeel Sullivan Revocable Trust and trained by Thomas Bush.

Alvarado and Mott teamed to finish second with 4-year-old filly New York Girl in the Grade 3, $175,000 Lambholm South Endeavour, won by Counterparty Risk.

Mott said he would prefer Candy Man Rocket and Nova Rags not square off again in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, run at the identical mile-and-a-sixteenth distance of the Sam F. Davis.

“It would be nice to run one of them there, knowing they both like the track, but maybe we will try to split them up next time,” he said.

Hidden Stash, who rallied for third, also looks like a good candidate for the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby.

Candy Man Rocket came into the Sam F. Davis off a 9 ¼-length, 6-furlong maiden special weight score on Jan. 9 at Gulfstream Park, while Nova Rags was attempting to duplicate his victory here on Jan. 16 in the 7-furlong Pasco Stakes. The winner received 10 qualifying points on the “Road to the Kentucky Derby,” while Nova Rags, bred and owned by Michael Shanley, earned 4 points.

The points increase dramatically for the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, with 50, 20, 10 and 5 awarded to the first four finishers.

Mott stressed that both horses still have much to prove before entertaining serious thoughts of making it to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve starting gate on May 1.

“I know everybody this time of year is thinking of the Triple Crown, but there is still a long road ahead for that,” said Mott, who finished 1-3 in the 2019 Run for the Roses with Country House (moved up via disqualification) and that year's Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby winner, Tacitus. “You just have to take things one step at a time.

“Put it this way: I think both horses earned their way into another prep race.”

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