Peter Miller | Horse Racing Free Tips

Ability To Run On Lasix ‘A Major Factor’ In Choosing Oaklawn For C Z Rocket’s 2021 Debut

The last time C Z Rocket ran at Oaklawn, the gelding was on a 10-race losing streak and in for a $40,000 claiming price.

C Z Rocket may have lost again last April, but Southern California-based trainer Peter Miller and owner Tom Kagele won big after claiming the gelding out of his fifth-place finish.

C Z Rocket captured his next five starts before his streak was snapped with a runner-up finish behind Whitmore in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland. Flip the results of the 6-furlong race and C Z Rocket would have gone from claimer to champion in roughly six months.

“My owner actually picked him,” Miller said Wednesday afternoon. “I OK'd it, but he picked him. He was off form, but obviously he had back class and back fast figures, fast sheet numbers. That was kind of what Tom Kagele saw and I agreed.”

Miller, who didn't have to shake for C Z Rocket, said the gelding bled the day he was claimed and “just assumed he was a bad bleeder and we were able to control that.”

C Z Rocket went on to set a 6 ½-furlong track record (1:15) in a July 12 allowance race at Keeneland and edge Flagstaff in the $150,000 Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2) Aug. 29 at Del Mar and $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G2) Sept. 27 at Santa Anita before being beaten 3 ¼ lengths by Whitmore in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

C Z Rocket returns to Oaklawn, this time for a rematch with Whitmore in Saturday's $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes for older sprinters. Like Whitmore, the country's champion male sprinter of 2020, the Hot Springs will mark C Z Rocket's first start since the Breeders' Cup. The 7-year-old son of City Zip has recorded a series of workouts at San Luis Rey Downs in Southern California in advance of the Hot Springs, which also drew Flagstaff.

“The fact that we could run on Lasix was a major factor in us choosing to go to Oaklawn,” Miller said.

C Z Rocket's career U-turn has him poised to reach $1 million career earnings this year. The gelding boasts a 9-2-2 mark from 23 lifetime starts and earnings of $891,641. Prominent North Little Rock, Ark., businessman Frank Fletcher purchased C Z Rocket for a sale-record $800,000 at the 2016 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company June Sale of 2-year-olds. C Z Rocket won his first three career starts (2017) and the $75,000 Kelly's Landing Overnight Stakes (2018) before he began running for a tag last spring at Oaklawn.

C Z Rocket will be reunited Saturday with Florent Geroux, who was aboard for two of the gelding's five consecutive victories last year. C Z Rocket is the 2-1 second choice in the program for the 6-furlong Hot Springs. Whitmore, who has won the Hot Springs a record four consecutive years, is the 8-5 favorite. Whitmore and C Z Rocket are scheduled to break from posts 6 and 7, respectively, in the projected seven-horse field.

“We felt like we could have won the Breeders' Cup if we had a better trip,” Miller said. “We were plus-40 or 50 feet in the race, even though we broke from the 2 hole and he (Whitmore) broke from the (7) hole. Don't ask me how that happened going three-quarters. But somehow or another we ended up giving up 40 or 50 feet in ground and we were closer to the pace than he really likes to be when the pace is that fast. We're excited. Obviously, our end goal would be the Breeders' Cup, but we're looking forward to the rematch.”

C Z Rocket now races for Kagele, Madaket Stables LLC (Sol Kumin) and Gary Barber.

The Hot Springs is the final major local prep for the $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) April 10. Whitmore has won the Count Fleet a record three times (2017, 2018 and 2020).

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Get Her Number ‘Not 100 Percent Fit,’ But Ready To Start 2021 Campaign In Saturday’s Rebel

American Pharoah won the Rebel Stakes in 2015 at Oaklawn. Now, the winner of the 2020 American Pharoah Stakes, Get Her Number, will try to do the same in Saturday's $1 million Grade 2 event in Hot Springs, Ark.

Get Her Number, who is trained by Southern California-based Peter Miller, will make his 3-year-old debut in the Rebel, a 1 1/16-mile event that is Oaklawn's third of four Kentucky Derby points races. Get Her Number already has something on his resume that seven scheduled Rebel rivals don't – a Grade 1 victory. That came in his dirt debut and final start last year, the $300,000 American Pharoah Stakes Sept. 26 at Santa Anita.

The 1 1/16-mile race, renamed in 2018 to honor the 2015 Triple Crown winner, was a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” event for the $2 million Juvenile (G1) Nov. 6 at Keeneland. A minor physical setback, however, caused Get Her Number to miss the race.

A versatile son of Dialed In, Get Her Number lands in the Rebel off a string of workouts at San Luis Rey Downs north of San Diego.

“We wanted to get him race-fit before we picked the spot,” Miller said Wednesday afternoon. “He's not 100 percent fit, but we've got to get him going here. He's ready to run, so this looked like a good spot to start him back.”

Get Her Number, who races for prominent California owner Gary Barber, has won 2 of 3 starts overall. Get Her Number's first two starts came on turf at Del Mar. He debuted with a half-length victory at 5 furlongs Aug. 14 before finishing fourth, beaten a length, in the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Turf at a mile Sept. 7. Get Her Number won the American Pharoah by three-quarters of a length.

Get Her Number has been a forward factor throughout his career, but Miller said he doesn't expect the colt to press the issue Saturday. Rebel entrants include 9-5 program favorite Caddo River, who has won his last two starts, including the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 22 at Oaklawn, by a combined 19 ¾ front-running lengths.

“There looks like plenty of pace, so we're not going to get involved early,” Miller said. “We're going to try and sit back, third, fourth, something like that, and see if he can't finish into the race.”

The Rebel will offer 85 points (50-20-10-5, respectively) to the top four finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby, which is limited to 20 horses. Get Her Number collected 10 points for his American Pharoah victory and ranks 19th on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard, according to Churchill Downs.

Get Her Number is 8-1 on the morning line for the Rebel and will be ridden for the first time by Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano. Get Her Number drew post 4.

In addition to the Rebel, American Pharoah won Oaklawn's $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) in 2015 before sweeping the Triple Crown and being named Horse of the Year.

The Rebel is the final major local prep for the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) April 10.

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Options Open for Get Her Number

Gary Barber's Get Her Number (Dialed In), off since winning the GI American Pharoah S. last September, continued to work towards his comeback with a four-furlong drill in :49.80 (1/1) at San Luis Rey Training Center Monday. While his next start has yet to be confirmed, it could come as soon as next Saturday's GII Rebel S. at Oaklawn Park.

“I'm happy with the work and he's doing very well,” trainer Peter Miller said Monday afternoon. “We are just deciding whether to put him on the plane Wednesday for the Rebel or there is a possibility of training up to the [Apr. 3 GI] Santa Anita Derby. We have a lot of options. We are just going to sleep on it tonight and then pow-wow tomorrow with the ownership group. Then make a decision and live with the consequences.”

Get Her Number, a $45,000 purchase at last year's OBS Spring Sale, opened his career with a win over five furlongs on the turf at Del Mar in August and he set the pace before settling for fourth in the Sept. 7 Del Mar Juvenile Turf. He was making his first start on dirt when he scored a 3/4-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile American Pharoah, but was sidelined after that effort.

“He's definitely more mature,” Miller said of the colt's progression from two to three. “He's a little bigger and stronger. He was a little bit nervous as a 2-year-old and he's settled down some. So we are pleased with the horse, we're just trying to figure out the best thing to do with him.”

While Miller agreed it can be frustrating to have a Grade I winning 2-year-old in the barn as the Derby trail heats up all around him, the trainer said he was content to keep his options open.

“The Derby has never been my primary goal with any horse,” Miller said. “It's just trying to do the right thing and if it falls in place, great, and if not, we can look at the [May 15 GI] Preakness S. or we can look elsewhere.”

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A New Force In Southern California, Juan Hernandez Rides 2,000th Winner

A 28-year-old native of Veracruz, Mexico, Juan Hernandez notched his 2,000th career win aboard the Peter Milller-trained Bedrock in Sunday's seventh race, a $25,000 claimer for older horses at six furlongs on turf at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.

In behind a wall of four horses with a sixteenth of a mile to run, Hernandez shifted outside and was able to prevail by three quarters of a length over 3-2 favorite Castle. Off at 7-1, Bedrock paid $17.00 to win.

A perennial leader at Golden Gate Fields prior to shifting his tack full time to Santa Anita last June, Hernandez currently has 37 wins at the current Winter/Spring Meet, which places him second in the rider standings to Flavien Prat, who has 44.

“I want to also say 'thank you' to the owners and trainers, my agent up north and my agent here, Craig (O'Bryan) and a big thanks to my people (at) Golden Gate Fields,” said Hernandez. “I think a lot of people (helped me). First of all, my family here, my family in Mexico, all these winners are for them…”

Hernandez, who will turn 29 on March 7, has been represented by veteran agent Craig O'Bryan since his arrival in Southern California.

“Not only is he a top rider, he's a top guy,” said O'Bryan. “He fits any kind of horse, he's a great judge of pace, finishes very well and he's great with the people. I knew he had done very well up north, but he's come down here and become a force. He's a great family guy and his best days are in front of him, no question.”

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