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C Z Rocket Seeks O’Brien Repeat

C Z Rocket (City Zip) will be looking to earn another automatic berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint when he attempts to defend his title in the 'Win and You're In' GII Pat O'Brien S. at Del Mar Saturday night. The 7-year-old gelding has hit the board in all 10 starts–with seven wins–since being claimed for $40,000 last April. He earned his first graded score in last year's Pat O'Brien and followed up with a win in the GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship S. before concluding the year with a runner-up effort behind Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. He has defeated that sprint champion twice this year, winning the Mar. 13 Hot Springs S. and Apr. 10 GIII Count Fleet Sprint H. He was second in the May 31 GIII Steve Sexton Mile S. at Lone Star and missed by just a neck after a wide trip when third in the July 31 GI Bing Crosby S. last time out.

Flagstaff (Speightstown) will be aiming to improve on his second in last year's Pat O'Brien for trainer John Sadler and jockey Joe Bravo. The 7-year-old gelding won the GIII Commonwealth S. at Keeneland in April and just got his head in front for a dramatic victory in the May 1 GI Churchill Downs S. He was most recently second in the June 4 GII True North S.

'TDN Rising Star' Eight Rings (Empire Maker), who captured the GI American Pharoah S. over the Del Mar oval as a 2-year-old in 2019, came up just a neck short when second in that blanket finish to the Bing Crosby. He comes into the Pat O'Brien off a pair of bullet drills, most recently going six furlongs in 1:11 4/5 (1/7) Aug. 22.

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C Z Rocket Faces Off With Flagstaff In ‘Win And You’re In’ O’Brien

A field of 10 stout sprinters will travel seven furlongs Saturday at Del Mar in the 36th edition of the Grade 2, $200,000 Pat O'Brien Stakes.

The extended dash offers extra incentive to its participants: it is a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” Challenge race providing an all-fees-paid admission to the $1-million Breeders' Cup Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile on Saturday, Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

Foremost among the runners is the defending O'Brien champ, Madaket Stables, Barber or Kagele, et al's C Z Rocket, a veteran gelding who found a new lease on life when he was haltered for $40,000 16 months ago and took up residence in the barn of trainer Peter Miller. All the 7-year-old has done since is win seven races, four of them stakes, and place in three other added-money tests to bank more than $1.1-million for his new connections.

His regular rider of late, Florent Geroux, will come into town to accept the mount Saturday and they'll break from Post 9 in the seven-furlong chute. C Z Rocket has been made the 5/2 morning line favorite by Del Mar's morning line maker Jon White.

Here's the full field for the O'Brien from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:

Slam Dunk Racing, McClanahan or Nentwig, et al's Ginobili (Drayden Van Dyke, 6-1)
Little Red Feather Racing, It Pays to Dream Racing Stable or Kawahara, et al's Howbeit (Kyle Frey, 6-1)
Barnhart, Foxx or Naify, et al's Surfing Star (apprentice Jessica Pyfer, 30-1)
Martin or Martin's Mo Mosa (Ramon Vazquez, 10-1)
Coolmore Stud, Madaket Stables or Starlight Racing, et al's Eight Rings (Abel Cedillo, 6-1)
SF Racing, Starlight Racing or Madaket Stables, et al's Classier (Mario Gutierrez, 12-1)
Alfred Pais' Brickyard Ride (Juan Hernandez, 8-1)
Lanes' End Racing or Hronis Racing's Flagstaff (Joe Bravo, 3-1)
C Z Rocket
Gilbert and Sones' California Street (Wayne Barnett, 30-1)

Chief threat to C Z Rocket appears to be another classy veteran, the 7-year-old Flagstaff, a winner of seven races and $1,011,585. The gelding by sprint champion Speightstown has made five starts this year, but this will be his first in his California home base. He's run at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, Keeneland and Churchill Downs in Kentucky and Belmont Park in New York, winning a pair of Graded stakes and placing in another. Flagstaff ran second in the O'Brien last year, a half length behind C Z Rocket.

Trainer Bob Baffert has a pair in the dash in Eight Rings and Classier. The former, a 4-year-old colt by Empire Maker, was second beaten only a neck in the Grade I Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs earlier in the meet. Classier, a 3-year-old colt also by Empire Maker, shortens up off a score in the Los Alamitos Derby at nine furlongs on July 4.

Ginobili comes into the heat of a romping nine and three-quarter lengths triumph in an allowance race at Del Mar on July 17. He was running a mile that day and will be looking for his first stakes victory Saturday.

Howbeit is another coming into the race off a smart allowance score – two of them, in fact. The Secret Circle 4-year-old has six wins and $230,956 in earnings.

Brickyard Ride, one of only two California-breds in the field, sports a record of eight wins with earnings of $470,477. Much of his money making has been accomplished against state-breds, but he has won against open company, including a tally in the Grade II San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita this past March.

Post time for the Saturday 11-race card is at 2 p.m.

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Bing Crosby Nominations Promises Deep Field Of Sprinters At Del Mar

Seventeen horses, encompassing virtually all the top sprinters on the West Coast, have been nominated to Saturday's $300,000 Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes, assuring that the field will be a stellar one when it is set and post positions are drawn on Wednesday.

Trainer Mark Glatt finished first and third in the 2020 Crosby with Collusion Illusion and Law Abidin Citizen. He has those two plus Dr. Schivel nominated and said Sunday he might run all three.

Other marquee speedsters on the nomination list include 2020 Pat O'Brien winner C Z Rocket for Peter Miller; the trio of Ax Man, Eight Rings, and Gamine from the Bob Baffert barn; graded stakes winner Flagstaff from the John Sadler stable; and the double-quick Cal-bred Brickyard Ride out of the Craig Lewis barn.

Sadler said Flagstaff will skip the Bing Crosby and instead go in the seven-furlong Pat O'Brien here on August 28.

Baffert said the 4-year-old filly Gamine, a winner of six graded stakes in her last seven starts – four of them Grade 1s – is more likely to continue competing against her own gender elsewhere than take on males in the Bing Crosby.

But Gamine is one of 11 older fillies and mares nominated to next Sunday's Clement L. Hirsch, as is stablemate As Time Goes By. A 4-year-old daughter of Baffert-trained Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, As Time Goes By is one of three stakes winners at Santa Anita that are possibles for the Hirsch, a 1 1/16-mile main track event that usually determines the top older filly or mare of the meeting.

The others are Venetian Harbor and Warren's Showtime.

The 6-furlong Bing Crosby is a “Win & You're In” qualifier for the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar on November 6. The Clement L. Hirsch is likewise designated for the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff that same day.

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Sadler-Trained Flagstaff Disqualified, Purse Monies Redistributed

The John Sadler-trained Flagstaff (Speightstown) has been disqualified from a second-place finish in last September's GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship S. after testing positive for clodronic acid, a bisphosphonate otherwise known as Osphos, according to a steward's ruling from Saturday.

According to the ruling, the $40,000 in prize money earnings awarded to owners Lane's End Racing and Hronis Racing, jockey Victor Espinoza and Sadler will be redistributed.

Currently unclassified, clodronic acid is by default deemed a class 1, penalty A drug, and it's currently in the process of being classified a class 3, category A penalty.

Sadler is currently on a year's probation in accordance with a settlement agreement and mutual release with the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), as part of which Sadler was fined $15,000 and handed a 60-day suspension–45 days of which were stayed-for three medication violations dating from 2019.

The suspension ran June 29 through June 13 last year. The year-long probation period ends June 28, 2021.

As stated in the agreement, “If John Sadler violates the terms of his probation, the 45 days of stayed suspension shall be imposed following a noticed hearing.”

Sadler's attorney, Darrell Vienna, told the TDN that Flagstaff was given clodronic acid in late 2019 when such administration was legal, and that the positive finding came about as a result of the drug's extended presence–months and sometimes years–in the horse's system “based on current information.”

According to Vienna, a proposed settlement agreement was presented to the CHRB. Vienna said the board rejected that proposal.

No official hearing has been scheduled for this case, according to CHRB spokesperson, Mike Marten.

Flagstaff, winner of this year's GI Churchill Downs S., was second in the GII True North S. at Belmont Park June 4.

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