C Z Rocket might try going long again

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – C Z Rocket is being considered for a start at two turns, perhaps in the Steve Sexton Mile at Lone Star Park, according to his trainer, Peter Miller.

C Z Rocket has won back-to-back sprint stakes at Oaklawn Park and is coming off a win in the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap. He has returned home to Southern California.

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Ideally, Miller said he wants to keep C Z Rocket at one turn as he is targeting the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. But Miller also said he wants to keep the horse racing on the diuretic Lasix, and some sprint stakes are being run at tracks that don’t allow horses to run on Lasix in stakes. C Z Rocket would be allowed to use Lasix for the Grade 3, $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile, to be run May 31.

“At some point, we’re going to have to run him without Lasix, but hopefully later than sooner,” Miller said.

“I think it’s important to protect him, to protect his lungs.”

Miller said last week that he is just starting to look at options for C Z Rocket, who has not won in five starts at two turns.

“I would consider the Steve Sexton Mile,” he said. “I feel like he can certainly get the mile.”

C Z Rocket likes the track at Del Mar, where the Breeders’ Cup Sprint will be run, Miller said.

“We feel like he’s the best sprinter in the country right now,” he said.

C Z Rocket won both the Count Fleet and Hot Springs Stakes over champion Whitmore. Last year, Whitmore won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint over runner-up C Z Rocket.

Whitmore emerged from the Count Fleet with good energy and his next-race plans are pending, according to trainer Ron Moquett. He said he would like to keep the gelding racing on Lasix.

“I’m going to look at the list of races we can run in and get a map and lay out what we can do,” Moquett said. “I’m not really wanting to experiment on an 8-year-old, running him without Lasix. I don’t want to run the risk of it. I want to do what’s best for him and go from there.”

No Parole set the pace in the Count Fleet and finished seventh. He exited the race in good order and has shipped to Kentucky, trainer Tom Amoss said. He said next-race plans are to be determined for No Parole.

◗ Southern Grayce has a chance to steal away in the featured ninth race Friday at Oaklawn. She will break from the rail in the six-furlong allowance for 3-year-old fillies that has a claiming price option of $75,000. The race also drew the comebacking Heart Full of Soul, who wired the field in last year’s Shakopee Juvenile at Canterbury while defeating males. Becca’s Rocket is cutting back from two turns off a fifth-place finish in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra in February at Fair Grounds.

◗ Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson made remarks at Oaklawn on Wednesday morning as part of a grand-opening ceremony for the track’s new hotel and event center. Oaklawn president Lou Cella had the track’s employees cut the ribbon Wednesday.