C Z Rocket looking good for second half of year

Trainer Al Stall Jr. is thinking about the Nov. 3 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill for C Z Rocket after the colt earned a career-high 103 Beyer Speed Figure with a four-length victory Saturday in the seven-furlong Kelly’s Landing.

The Kelly’s Landing was a return to form for C Z Rocket, who had finished sixth in the Grade 1 Malibu on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita and third in an optional claimer June 1 at Churchill.

“He put himself in a good spot and ran a big one,” Stall said. “He looks like he’s becoming a real nice middle-distance horse. Hopefully, he’s on track for a good second half of the year. That was the idea when we gave him a little time after the Malibu.”

Stall said that C Z Rocket, owned by Frank Fletcher, will be among the horses he will ship soon to Saratoga, where the son of City Zip could run in the Grade 1 Forego on the Aug. 25 Travers undercard. “Then maybe the Ack Ack” during the Churchill September meet, he said.

Meanwhile, trainer Shawn Davis said that Chief Cicatriz was scratched as the morning-line favorite from the Kelly’s Landing for precautionary reasons after suffering a minor foot bruise in a June 23 breeze.

“He’s 100 percent this morning,” Davis said Monday. “We’re going to come up with a game plan for him in the next day or two.”