BC Sprint runner-up C Z Rocket to race next year at age 9

DEL MAR, Calif. – California-based veteran sprinter C Z Rocket, the 8-year-old gelding who outran expectations finishing second at 31-1 in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland, has returned to California for a freshening before he commences a campaign at age 9.

“Our plan is to run him next year,” trainer Peter Miller said. “Give him a little break, a little freshening, then shoot for maybe Oaklawn or maybe Dubai.”

C Z Rocket, who also finished second in the 2020 BC Sprint at Keeneland, has earned more than $1.7 million since Miller claimed him for $40,000 in spring 2020. Last spring at Oaklawn Park, he won two sprint stakes, including the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap.

Miller said immediate plans are undetermined for And Tell Me Nolies, winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante and Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita before she finished eighth in the BC Juvenile Fillies.

And Tell Me Nolies “is well, we’re just deciding whether to go in the Starlet or give her a break,” Miller said.

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The Grade 1 Starlet, Dec. 10 at Los Alamitos, is expected to attract Bob Baffert-trained Faiza. She scored a dazzling debut victory Nov. 12 at Del Mar, winning a six-furlong race geared down in 1:09.28.