Bestfriend Rocket has chance to fulfill Fletcher's Arkansas Derby dream

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Frank Fletcher will be chasing a more than 25 year old dream Saturday when he runs Bestfriend Rocket in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

Bestfriend Rocket is a three-time winner who will be making his stakes debut off a gusty allowance win for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas on March 2. Fletcher purchased the horse as a 2-year-old in training last April, giving $575,000 for the son of Curlin who is from the female family of Tapit.

“This is my home state,” Fletcher said. “If I ever could win a big race, I’d rather win this than any other race in the country.

“I’ve been in racing since 1989. That was my goal when I started and I’ve been lucky enough to finish third with a horse by the name of Son of Rocket. And, in 2023, I thought we were really set up to win it with Rocket Can after he won the Holy Bull, but he finished fourth and went on to finish ninth in the Kentucky Derby. But I thought he was my best chance. This year, we’re going to be probably the longest shot on the board.”

But there are reasons to be hopeful with the developing Bestfriend Rocket, who won two 1 1/16-mile races at Laurel Park before being sent to Oaklawn.

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“We ran out of conditions in Maryland, so then we moved him over to Hot Springs,” Fletcher said. “He ran in an allowance and he ran very well, won the race the last two or three yards. But the thing that impressed me about that – I mean, I love to win – was his gallop-out. They couldn’t stop him. He went all the way around, halfway down the other side of the track. They couldn’t pull him up, which meant to me that the horse wanted to go much longer than a mile and a sixteenth. And most horses in the Arkansas Derby will not have run a mile and an eighth before, so I feel our horse is ready for the distance.”

Fletcher said there also are limited opportunities right now for Bestfriend Rocket.

“There’s no other races,” he said. “We’re not suited for a mile and that’s the kind of races we’d be qualified for next. There’s just no races for us coming up that would fit our conditions. We’ll see what happens. If he runs second or third in a Grade 1 race, I’d be thrilled. I’d love to win. I’d like to see him do well. I think he’s on the upswing. I think he’s getting better. Whether he’s that caliber or not, we won’t know until that day.”

It will be a busy card for Fletcher, who also has Bendoog in the $145,000 American Pharoah overnight stakes and Almostgone Rocket in the $250,000 Matron. He believes Almostgone Rocket, who is unbeaten in three starts, might be the best horse he has in training. Fletcher races the daughter of Into Mischief in partnership with Ten Strike Racing.

“She’s 3 for 3,” Fletcher said. “She had a growth under her tongue taken off last September, so she’s been out. She’s probably the best horse we own. We’re very, very excited. She’s won all three races by a long distance. She’s walked away from them.”

Bestfriend Rocket and Almostgone Rocket follow a naming protocol for Fletcher.

“All my horses are named Rocket or Rockette,” he said. “We’ve had over 125 rocket names.”

Rocket honors the German Shepherds he has had through the years. His top horse, the homebred Frank’s Rockette, was a multiple Grade 2 winner on the track who earned $1.5 million.

“We still own her,” Fletcher said. “She’s in Lexington. We’re going to breed her in the next month to Gun Runner.

“We’ve got about five fillies now that we’re breeding. We’re starting to buy fillies. For a long time, I only bought colts. Frank’s Rockette is the best horse I’ve ever had, then a couple of other good fillies have really been thrilling. I’m buying well-bred fillies and making them mommas after we get done racing. It’s a new direction for us, so we’re excited about it.”

Rocket Twentyone, the dam of Frank’s Rockette, is now 16. She has a full sibling to Frank’s Rockette, a 2-year-old named Forever Rocket.

For now, however, the focus is on Bestfriend Rocket in the Arkansas Derby.

“It might not be our year, but we’re excited anyway,” said Fletcher.

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