Coach Rocks kicks off season in allowance

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It was a year ago in South Florida that a filly named Coach Rocks was becoming a hot commodity. An eight-length maiden winner in mid-February, she would come to be regarded as a major Kentucky Oaks contender after winning the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks in late March.

Since then, however, there have been no winner’s circle pictures. Coach Rocks was seventh as the 8-1 co-third choice behind Monomoy Girl in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, then finished behind the likes of Midnight Bisou, Eskimo Kisses, and Red Ruby in three subsequent starts, all of them graded. Another factor is she hasn’t raced since mid-August.

“We had a little setback that forced us to miss the fall races with her,” said Dale Romans, who trains Coach Rocks for the partnership of Roddy Valente, Rick Pitino, and West Point Thoroughbreds. “But she’s come back 100 percent. We brought her down here in December and wanted to have her ready to run a race or two before we take her home to Churchill, and now here we are.”

Coach Rocks will be heavily favored when making her eagerly awaited comeback Thursday at Gulfstream in the featured 10th race, a $52,000, second-level allowance at seven furlongs. Nine local works precede this return, with the latest being a five-furlong breeze in 1:01.80 on Friday.

“Obviously, we’ve thought about races like the Madison, the Humana Distaff, and the La Troienne for her because we want to get her back to the Grade 1 level,” Romans said. “But you don’t want to get too far ahead of yourself. I do think she’s going to run a really big race Thursday – she’s really feeling good. Let’s see how it goes, and we’ll make plans from there.”

The return of Coach Rocks coincides with that of her jockey, Luis Saez, who was the leading rider at the championship meet prior to going on two five-day suspensions (excluding stakes engagements as permitted by Florida regulation) that began Feb. 13 and ended Wednesday. Saez, whose absence has allowed Irad Ortiz Jr. to supplant him atop the meet standings, will be aboard Coach Rocks when the daughter of Oxbow breaks from post 3 in a field of just six fillies and mares.

If Coach Rocks is to somehow be upset, the most likely candidates are Posse Needed (post 6, Jose Ortiz), who was second at this same level in her most recent start in early January for Mark Hennig, and Awesome Mass (post 2, Emisael Jaramillo), who hails from the barn of leading trainer Jorge Navarro. Rounding out the lineup are Quick Quick Quick, Pierette, and Razorback Lady.

The feature is the last of three open allowances on a Thursday program that starts at 12:35 p.m. Eastern, with the others going as races 5 and 7. A solid card also includes an allowance for Florida-breds (race 9) and back-to-back starter-allowance turf sprints (races 3 and 4).

The feature is part of a 20-cent Rainbow 6 sequence that spans races 6-11. Into Wednesday, the carryover jackpot stood at nearly $400,000.