C Z Rocket possible for Bing Crosby
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – C Z Rocket was the favorite in Lone Star Park’s Sexton Mile and in the aftermath of the race the horse was found to have lost one of his front shoes, trainer Peter Miller said Tuesday.
C Z Rocket flew home to his San Luis Rey Downs training center base in Southern California on Wednesday, and he could see action next at Del Mar. Miller said a possible next race for the horse is the Grade 1, $300,000 Bing Crosby on July 31. The six-furlong race is a qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
“We’ll look around at other spots as well,” said Miller, adding discussions would be held with owners Tom Kagele, Gary Barber, and Madaket Stables.
C Z Rocket was one of four horses Miller brought to Lone Star for its Million Day afternoon of five stakes worth a total of $1.1 million. The races were run over a wet track and under the lights after a rainstorm pelted Lone Star, at one point holding up horses in the paddock for an earlier stakes, the Chamberlain Bridge.
Miller, who is based in Southern California, said the last time he dealt with that kind of rain at the races was in 2010. It came when trainee Comma to the Top won the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park.
“It was a torrential downpour,” Miller recalled of the weather leading up to the CashCall. “That was the last time I’ve seen rain like [Monday]. I’ll never forget the races [Monday]. It might take me a month or two to de-traumatize!”
Miller said the wet track did not suit C Z Rocket.
“He proved once and for all he really doesn’t like an off racetrack,” Miller said. “He never looked like he handled it well. He did it on class and heart. Typically on a fast dirt, he takes the jock there. He had loose reins the whole time.”
One start prior to the Sexton Mile, Miller saddled Grade 2 winner Laura’s Light to an off-the-turf win in the $200,000 Ouija Board Distaff. She rolled by 4 3/4 lengths in the mile race that marked her dirt debut. Laura’s Light earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 90. “She ran super,” Miller said. “She’s won from five and a half furlongs to a mile and an eighth and won on three surfaces. Those horses don’t come along very often.”
Miller said plans are to be determined for Laura’s Light, who races for Gary Barber.
Miller also saddled Texas Wedge to a third-place finish in the off-the-turf $100,000 Chamberlain Bridge. His other starter on the card, Grade 1 winner Get Her Number, was eased after clipping heels in a scary incident on the first turn of the $300,000 Texas Derby.
Miller said Get Her Number emerged from the race with a large gash on a hind leg. He has returned home to Southern California.