Breeders' Cup Sprint: C Z Rocket stepping into some mighty big shoes
Four days after the speedy C Z Rocket registered the second victory of what has become a five-race winning streak, it was with mixed emotions that trainer Peter Miller announced the retirement of his two-time Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Roy H. Four and a half months later, C Z Rocket will try to give Miller his third Sprint title in the last four years when he goes postward among the favorites in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.
Miller claimed C Z Rocket for $40,000 in April at Oaklawn Park for owner Tom Kagele, who subsequently sold interests in the horse to Gary Barber and, more recently, Sol Kumin.
“You don’t claim a horse for $40,000 thinking you’ll get to the Breeders’ Cup,” said Miller, who also claimed Stormy Liberal and won the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint with him in 2017 and 2018. “When you claim one for 40, you’re just hoping to win for 50. What he’s done has obviously been way beyond expectations.”
C Z Rocket did win for $50,000 in his first start after being claimed by Miller. C Z Rocket also captured a pair of optional-claiming races and then posted back-to-back Grade 2 wins in the Pat O’Brien and the Santa Anita Sprint Championship, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race that earned him a fees-paid berth into the Sprint. C Z Rocket is 2 for 2 at Keeneland.
“Needless to say, it was bittersweet retiring Roy H earlier this year, and if we could pull this off with C Z Rocket just a few months later it would be unbelievable,” Miller said. “Actually, they are very alike – big, strong, and beautiful with similar running styles, horses who like to sit third or fourth and then run them down at the end.”
If Miller had a little more time to work with, he might even have Roy H and C Z Rocket on the track together at Keeneland, in the post parade for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
“Roy H is still with us,” Miller said. “We’re making him into a barn pony, so I still get to see him and pet him every day. He’ll probably be ready to start working in the afternoons pretty soon, but not before this race. Maybe we’ll see him back again next year at the Breeders’ Cup.”
Miller said C Z Rocket will complete his major preparations for the Sprint at the San Luis Rey training center in California before shipping to Kentucky the week of the race.
“It’s definitely been a strange year, although ironically we’re having one of our best years to this point,” Miller said. “There are certainly less distractions – you don’t have the fans or the clients or the extracurricular stuff going on. It’s not ideal, but so far we’re making the best of it, and winning the Sprint again would sure be a good addition to all of that.”
The Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Sept. 27 was the fifth and final Breeders’ Cup Challenge race designated for the Sprint. The four other Challenge race winners are all among the contenders for the race: Vekoma, who captured both the Carter as well as the Metropolitan Handicap, a designated Challenge race for the Dirt Mile; Collusion Illusion, who won the Bing Crosby; Diamond Oops, who won the Phoenix; and Firenze Fire, who won the Vosburgh.
Vekoma, idle since winning the Met Mile on July 4, recorded his fifth work since returning to the tab early last month, going five furlongs in 1:02.25 last Saturday over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga. Collusion Illusion went an easy half-mile in 49.60 seconds Sunday at Santa Anita, while the undefeated 3-year-old Yaupon breezed a slow half in 51.20 at Keeneland that same morning.