HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – C Z Rocket has been coming to Oaklawn Park every year since 2019, and he’s back in town Monday for the eighth race. The horse arrived from his Southern California base this past Tuesday. “There was a race out here we were entering and it didn’t go, and we decided to put him on a plane,” trainer Peter Miller said. C Z Rocket runs in a $62,500 starter allowance over six furlongs. He’s the class of the field as a multiple Grade 2 winner of $2.1 million who twice has run second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Others in the nine-horse field include Grade 1-placed Kneedeepinsnow, Grade 3 winner Accidental Hero, and Grade 3-placed Edge to Edge. C Z Rocket’s tradition of coming to the Oaklawn meet is now in its sixth year. He has made a total of eight starts over the local strip, and his wins include the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap and the Hot Springs Stakes, both at age 7. He is now 10. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. “He just amazes me,” Miller said. “He loves his job. He loves to train. He trains more forward than a lot of 3- and 4-year-olds.” C Z Rocket closed his 9-year-old season with a November win at Del Mar in which he covered six furlongs in 1:09.29. He’s raced once since, and finished third in a no-conditions allowance Jan. 19 at Santa Anita. C Z Rocket pushed quick fractions of 44.54 seconds for the half-mile and 56.75 for five-eighths before finishing 3 1/2 lengths back. The final time for the six furlongs was 1:09.26. “He ran a really good race,” Miller said. “I think he could have won it with a better trip. He was just a little too sharp and a little too aggressive and a little too close to the pace. I think if he’d have settled, he could have won the race.” C Z Rocket will break from post 4 on Monday, under jockey Ramon Vazquez. “He should fit very well,” Miller said. “And he’s run well on that track and Ramon knows him.” :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  C Z Rocket was claimed in 2020 by Tom Kagele, who now races the gelding in partnership with Altamira Racing Stable and Madaket Stable. C Z Rocket’s home base is the San Luis Rey Downs training center in Southern California, but when he’s in Arkansas he sets up shop in Miller’s local division at Oaklawn. “It’s a pleasure every time I look outside my office and see his smiling face,” Miller said. “He’s just a joy to be around. He’s a bit of a ham – loves attention, loves his peppermints. And he’s a real kind soul, but you put him on the racetrack, he’s all racehorse.” Edge to Edge is moving back into the overnight ranks following a sixth-place finish in the King Cotton won by Skelly, who popped a meet-high Beyer Speed Figure of 105. One start prior, Edge to Edge had run second to Skelly in a December allowance at Oaklawn. Kneedeepinsnow was second last out in a two-other-than allowance won by Tapatio Leo. It was the fourth straight win for Tapatio Leo, who shipped in from Southern California for Miller. Trainer Steve Asmussen and his son, jockey Keith Asmussen, will team with Payne, who owns the field’s best last-race Beyer, a 90. The men won for races together here Friday. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.