Ron Moquett | Horse Racing Free Tips

Shades Of ‘Ali-Frazier’: Whitmore, C Z Rocket Up For Rematch In Count Fleet

So far, Whitmore and C Z Rocket have fought to a split decision. Round 3 is Saturday at Oaklawn when they tangle again in the $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) for older sprinters at 6 furlongs.

“They're two warriors,” said Peter Miller, trainer of C Z Rocket. “It's Ali-Frazier. It's going to be a battle. I think it will probably come down to who gets the trip.”

Round 1 went to Whitmore, who beat C Z Rocket by 3 ¼ lengths in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland for co-owner/trainer Ron Moquett of Hot Springs. That outcome secured Whitmore an Eclipse Award as the country's champion male sprinter of 2020 and snapped C Z Rocket's five-race winning streak (all the victories, including two Grade 2 stakes, came after being claimed for $40,000 last April at Oaklawn).

Round 2 went to C Z Rocket, who beat Whitmore by a neck in the $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes March 13 at Oaklawn. That outcome made C Z Rocket, a 7-year-old gelding, a millionaire, denied Whitmore his record-extending fifth consecutive Hot Springs victory and from becoming the outright leader in career Oaklawn stakes victories with eight (the 8-year-old gelding shares the record with Swift Ruler). Whitmore has won the Count Fleet a record three times (2017, 2018 and 2020).

“They're very comparable horses,” Miller said. “Really super-good horses.”

Whitmore and C Z Rocket headline the Count Fleet, which has drawn a field of seven. Probable post time for the Count Fleet, which goes as the 11th of 13 races, is 6:05 p.m. (Central). First post Saturday is 12:02 p.m.

The projected lineup from the rail out: No Parole, Ramon Vazquez to ride, 118 pounds, 9-2 on the morning line; Whitmore, Ricardo Santana Jr., 123, 9-5; Mojo Man, Francisco Arrieta, 116, 8-1; Strike Power, Joel Rosario, 117, 5-1; Empire of Gold, David Cabrera, 117, 8-1; C Z Rocket, Florent Geroux, 122, 2-1; and Mr. Jagermeister, Rocco Bowen, 116, 12-1.

Whitmore and C Z Rocket were making their first starts since the Breeders' Cup Sprint in the Hot Springs. Both races were 6 furlongs. Tipping the scales, so slightly, in C Z Rocket's favor last month may have been geography. He was training in Southern California, while Whitmore's routine in Arkansas was interrupted for roughly two weeks by severe winter weather. Oaklawn lost 11 days of training (Feb. 12-22) to snow and arctic temperatures.

“We missed two works,” said Laura Moquett, who assists her husband and regularly gallops Whitmore, a career winner of almost $4.3 million. “That stunk. And he went five-wide. Had he gone on the rail and missed two works, maybe it would have been even. Had he had the two works and gone five-wide, maybe it would have been even. But doing both – missing two works and going five-wide – it's not possible.”

Whitmore has had two half-mile works since the Hot Springs. Miller has kept a small string of horses at Oaklawn, but he opted to send C Z Rocket back to Southern California following the Hot Springs. The gelding has posted two works at his home base, San Luis Rey Downs.

“We were torn,” Miller said. “Leave him there or bring him home? Just with the weather there and everything like that, we thought it was prudent to bring him back.”

C Z Rocket was flown back to Arkansas Wednesday. He and Whitmore figure to again have plenty of pace to chase Saturday with the presence of Grade 1 winner No Parole, 2020 Breeders' Cup fourth Empire of Gold, multiple stakes winner Mr. Jagermeister and Grade 3 winner Strike Power, who has the fastest 6-furlong time of the 2021 Oaklawn meet (1:08.91).

“Lots of pace,” Miller said. “There's definitely lots of pace. We're just going to leave it up to Flo.”

Let Round 3 begin.

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Russell Family ‘Lucky’ To Have Each Other

It seems like some things are just meant to be.

Then-assistant trainer Brittany Trimble Russell first met and dated the man who is now her husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, in 2012. Then, Brittany's boss at the time, Tim Ritchey, offered her the chance to travel the country working at different racetracks, and she couldn't pass up the opportunity.

As Brittany spent the next several years working for trainers like Jimmy Jerkens, Jonathan Thomas, Ron Moquett, and Brad Cox all across the Eastern half of the United States, she and Sheldon remained long-distance friends.

Eventually, the racing game brought them back together again.

“I think everything just worked out the way it was meant to,” Brittany said simply. “It was like I'd never left.”

Each made their way back to Maryland in 2017, and things picked up almost where they'd left off. Today, the couple has built both a relationship and a successful Thoroughbred training business at Laurel Park.

They were married in August of 2018, and their daughter, Edy, was born a year later.

“She is our why; she's why we work so hard,” said Brittany. “I love that I'm able to enjoy this game with my family. It's 24-7 and a lot of dedication and can be a lot to handle, but the fact that Sheldon can ride for us and we can enjoy it together, it's so special.”

Sheldon helps out at the barn and breezes horses in the mornings, while their daughter stays with either his mother or the mother of Brittany's top assistant, Luis Barajas.

“Their family is like our family now,” Brittany said.

Edy is young yet, but she's already fearless with the horses.

“She struts down the shed row like she owns the place,” Brittany laughed. “She has no fear, and you have to watch her or she'll duck right under the webbings. She does have a pony, of course. Sheldon says she's not going to be a jockey, but you know she already loves to ride!”

Both Brittany and Sheldon's careers have been booming over the past four years. Sheldon, a four-time leading rider in Maryland, has won 80 or more starts each season, and Brittany has increased her number of winners each year she's been in business.

She began with 11 wins in 2018, improved to 17 in 2019, and built up to 46 wins and over $1.6 million in earnings in 2020. With 13 wins thus far in 2021, Brittany is on target for her best year yet.

Five-time stakes winner Hello Beautiful has played the starring role in Brittany's career thus far. The Maryland-bred 4-year-old has won seven of her 14 lifetime starts to earn $384,610, well out-performing her $6,500 purchase price.

“She's special for many reasons, and she's really done a lot for us,” Brittany said.

Brittany has come a long way from her beginnings in Peach Bottom, Pa., where her family didn't have anything to do with horses.

“We lived in Amish country, and they're farmers, but not horse farmers,” Brittany quipped. “As a young girl, I always wanted to be able to do everything, right? First I wanted to be a ballerina, then to play softball, then to learn an instrument. … It was always something new. But when I started riding horses, that was the one thing that stuck.”

Her primary equine learning came at nearby Breakaway Farm. She was cleaning stalls on weekends by the age of 12, and by 14 she started to learn how to break and gallop the babies.

“It was a good way to learn how to gallop, the babies and I kind of learned together,” Brittany said. “I didn't really have any formal riding lessons.”

She rode a few amateur jockey races along the way, but Brittany learned she preferred puzzling out the horses from the training side of the industry.

Trainer Jimmy Jerkens was the biggest influence on that part of her horse racing education. Learning from the veteran master horseman taught Brittany what questions she needed to be asking to understand her equine charges.

“I still have the 'Jerkens text hotline,'” she joked. “If I ever have a question or wonder what to do in a specific situation, he's always willing to help. He's wonderful.”

Working for Brad Cox in Saratoga sealed the deal in terms of Brittany's career choice.

“He really intrigued me when he offered me a job, even though I wasn't sure about making the move up to Saratoga at the time,” said Brittany. “That was the job that made me realize I want to do it, to be a trainer. He left me on my own, he trusted me. He was a good teacher, he's a good horseman, and he knows how to win races. He's really good to people, you see so much of his staff stays with him. In this game that says a lot about a person.”

In turn, the thing that says a lot about Brittany is her enduring positive attitude. She doesn't acknowledge the industry treating her any differently due to her gender, and she is grateful for all the time spent as a nomad assistant trainer traveling around the country.

“Being away from family when I was younger, that's sort of what molded me into the person I am today,” Brittany said. “It gave me that education I needed to go out on my own. I missed holidays and things with my family, and they don't quite understand because they're not horse people. But I wouldn't trade it.”

In addition, she and Sheldon have learned to work together in harmony, win or lose.

“At the end of the day you have to realize that the rider doesn't want to mess up,” Brittany explained. “Sheldon will be the first one to say, 'I'm sorry,' and he's done way more good for us than bad. It's one of those things where I'm lucky to have him.”

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Op/Ed: Horsemen’s Groups Turn Their Backs on Honest Trainers, Owners

If you are an owner and trainer who plays by the rules, the last several years should have been hard to swallow. Racing, with its broken system, has proven unable to police itself and the result has been that cheaters have prospered and have done so at the expense of the vast majority of horsemen who do things right. Armed with syringes, the bad guys have been stealing money from the good guys. Lots of it.

Which is exactly why every honest horsemen should be 100% behind the Horseracing Integrity Safety and Integrity Act (HISA). It will give them a fighting chance.

HISA is not a magic bullet and it will not solve all of the sport's problems. Cheating will never go away totally. What HISA will do is to usher in a competent, effective system to police the sport. Instead of relying on each individual state and a system of drug testing that never really catches anybody, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) will take over, responsible for leveling what has been, for far too long, an uneven playing field. There is no doubt that USADA is going to make it a lot harder to get away with cheating.

Many prominent horsemen have come out in favor of HISA, but their voice was drowned out by the news that broke Monday that the National HBPA, along with 11 individual state horsemen's groups, was suing to put the brakes on HISA. This would be like Citibank suing for more lenient penalties for bank robbers. It makes absolutely no sense.

The lawsuit was filed by the Liberty Justice Center, which calls itself a non-profit public-interest litigation center that was founded to fight against political privilege. In a statement the group released Monday, USADA was never mentioned. Instead, the group contended that HISA is unconstitutional and, therefore, should be struck down.

It's hard to imagine that there is one horsemen anywhere who cares one bit whether or not HISA is unconstitutional or not. Instead, one is left to connect the dots and after doing so, it wouldn't be hard to reach the conclusion that the only reason to have HISA overturned would be that they prefer the status quo over a new system under the control of USADA. That is to say that they are fine with a system that rewards cheats at the expense of the very people who make up the majority of their membership. Trainers and owners represented by the groups that are part of the suit should be outraged.

It's not at all clear that the actions taken by the National HBPA and its affiliate groups even have the backing of the majority of horsemen nationwide. Many prominent trainers and owners have been outspoken in their belief that something must change and that HISA is the best route out of this morass. And several key state horsemen's groups were nowhere to be found among the press releases and statements issued Monday. Some of them have, in fact, come out in favor of HISA.

That doesn't mean that there aren't trainers who side with the HBPAs. The National HBPA issued a press release that included comments of support from a handful of owners or trainers, among them Ron Moquett, who said, “My job is to take care of horses and the people who help me take care of horses. I don't see how this does any of that. I definitely agree there are some things we should do to better the industry. But this legislation takes you down a bunch of back, curvy roads where you don't know where you're going. Change for the sake of change does not solve problems and is likely to create new ones.”

Moquett is exactly the type of trainer who should enthusiastically support HISA. There's every reason to believe that he is as honest as they come. The trainer of the venerable Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect), he has never been involved in any sort of scandal and his lifetime winning rate of 12% suggests that his horses are running on nothing more than hay, oats and water. It's the Ron Moquetts of the world who are getting pounded by those who have a chemical edge. If he does not believe that he has never been beaten by a cheater, I suggest that he is hopelessly naive. It's probably happened dozens, if not hundreds, of times.

The backers of HISA, including The Jockey Club, seem confident that the horsemen's lawsuit will eventually end in defeat. That doesn't mean there won't be damage done. HISA is supposed to go in effect by July 1, 2022. Because of the lawsuit, that date could be in jeopardy. If the HBPAs and the Liberty Justice Center want to go to the mat on this one, they very well could tie things up for years in the courts. That would do demonstrable harm to a sport that is trying to clean up its act and send a message to its many critics that it takes the issues of doping and horse safety very seriously.

A horsemen's group should be looking out for all of its members, which means it should be leading the fight for integrity. That they are standing in its way is very sad.

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‘Just Tickled To Be Able To Race’: Lieblongs Enjoying Early-Season Success At Oaklawn

Prominent Conway, Ark., owner Alex Lieblong said he spent a lot of time late last year at his vacation home in the Florida Keys.

Understandable.

Lieblong, among other things in 2020, broke his foot, contracted coronavirus and as chairman of the Arkansas Racing Commission was in the middle of a bitter legal fight to award a casino permit in Pope County.

“I just said, 'I'm going to hide down there,' ” Lieblong said.

Lieblong is back and so are the horses he and wife JoAnn own and now campaign at their home track, Oaklawn, with Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.

The Lieblongs recorded their first career Oaklawn triple Jan. 24, when Asmussen saddled favorites Earner ($3.80), Willful Woman ($4.20) and unbeaten Abrogate ($3.60) to win races 2, 3 and 8, respectively.

“I felt good and they were training well,” said Alex Lieblong, 70, who watched the races from home. “It was a good day to do it.”

The Lieblongs were Oaklawn's third-leading owners last year with 11 victories and the triple pushed their career total in Hot Springs to 117. They entered the game in the early 1990s and won their first race at Oaklawn in 1999, although JoAnn Lieblong, in partnership, recorded several victories earlier in the decade with noted Little Rock, Ark., owner Patricia Blass.

Now established owners and breeders, the Lieblongs normally keep roughly 20 horses in training – the bulk are now at Oaklawn with Asmussen – and have approximately 14 broodmares at Ocala Stud in Florida, where they stand their Grade 1 winner, The Big Beast.

The trio of Jan. 24 winners were all purchased at auction – Earner for $425,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Willful Woman for $400,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Select Yearling Sale and Abrogate for $270,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Abrogate, who cleared her first allowance condition in the sprint for 3-year-old fillies, is from the first crop of Grade 1 winner Outwork. She is 2 for 2 in her career (both sprints).

“I watched the gallop-out two or three times and it didn't seem like she was just collapsing after the line, I'll put it that way,” Lieblong said, referring to a potential future route attempt. “She's got a good mind and she's not a run off. She was so gorgeous at the sale. To pay that for an Outwork – that was at the outer limits for an Outwork filly, although I think Outwork is going to prove himself to be a pretty nice sire.”

Willful Woman, another 3-year-old filly, is from the first crop of champion Nyquist. She is a half-sister to the Asmussen-trained Ever So Clever, winner of the $400,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies in 2017 at Oaklawn.

Willful Woman was making her third career start after running third twice last fall in Kentucky. She broke her maiden at a mile.

“We knew (Abrogate) was a good filly,” Lieblong said. “The other one needed to show a little something and she did. She's had a growth spurt. I can tell that. She's gotten big, that Willful Woman. I was worried that the mile might be a tick too short for her, but she looked pretty impressive herself.”

The Lieblongs have two other horses at Oaklawn with trainer Steve Hobby of Hot Springs and another with trainer Ron Moquett of Hot Springs. The Lieblongs also have had a long business relationship with trainer David Fawkes, who is based in south Florida. Skip Intro, a 3-year-old half-brother to 2020 male sprint champion Whitmore, is with Moquett. The trainer also conditions Whitmore, a seven-time Oaklawn stakes winner.

The Jan. 24 triple vaulted the Lieblongs into the top spot in the Oaklawn owner's standings after the first three days of the scheduled 57-day meeting. They have at least one victory at every Oaklawn meet since 2001, including a career-best 12 in 2019. The Lieblongs were Oaklawn's third-leading owners in 2019.

“I always remember David Fawkes telling me one time that everything can be going so good and then all of sudden somebody just kind of rolls a hand grenade down the center of your barn,” Lieblong said on the eve of 2021 Oaklawn meeting. “I thought, 'That's about like it is.' About the time you think you have things lined up, here comes the hand grenade. We're just tickled to be able to race. You've got to hand it to Oaklawn to get it done. They've jumped through a lot of hoops to get it done.”

Oaklawn raced, uninterrupted, through the COVID-19 crisis last year, though without spectators for the final 29 dates of the 57-day meeting. Oaklawn's 2021 meeting began Jan. 22 with limited spectators, owing to Arkansas Department of Health guidelines.

In addition to The Big Beast, the Lieblongs have campaigned Grade 1 winners Wicked Whisper, Embellish the Lace and Telling, Grade 2 winners I Spent It and High Dollar Woman and multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Spring Included. They still race Bye Bye J, another multiple local stakes winner who is scheduled to make her 2021 debut Feb. 4 at Oaklawn. Bye Bye J is among the top Arkansas-bred female money winners in history. The Lieblongs also raced millionaire Duke of Mischief, winner of the $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) in 2010, in partnership with Fawkes and the horse's breeder, Marilyn McMaster.

Alex Lieblong heads Lieblong & Associates, Inc., a financial advisory firm in Little Rock, Ark.

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