HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Although each were invited to the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, Tumbarumba and Rocket Can will instead battle it out for a much smaller prize while meeting for the second time in five weeks in Saturday’s $165,000 Fred W. Hooper Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Tumbarumba dropped a 1 1/4-length decision to Rocket Can finishing second in the Grade 3, 1 1/16-mile Harlan’s Holiday in his 2024 finale. But Tumbarumba, last year’s Hooper winner, will likely be favored when the pair meet again going a one-turn mile in Saturday’s eighth race, which is also a Grade 3. “We were offered a chance to go in the Pegasus World Cup but decided that if he ran good here, we’d consider bringing him back in the [Godolphin] Mile,” explained Tumbarumba’s trainer, Brian Lynch. “We’d prefer to keep him at a mile for now.” In the Harlan’s Holiday, Tumbarumba prompted the pace and gained a short advantage in the early stretch. But he could not contain the late rally by Rocket Can in a race decided over a track that appeared to favor horses closing out near the middle of the strip, as Rocket Can did. The result marked the fifth time Tumbarumba had finished second in his six starts since defeating Castle Chaos by a nose in the 2024 Hooper. As a result of his string of second-place finishes, Lynch will take the blinkers off Tumbarumba on Saturday. :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day. “This is a game of trial and error, which is why I decided to take the blinkers off for this race,” Lynch explained. “He seems to be waiting on horses; they get the jump on him and he just can’t recover. He needed them when he was younger, but he’s more experienced, so I don’t think he needs them now. We should have no excuses Saturday. It’s his race to lose.” Rocket Can, trained by Bill Mott, obviously has a preference for the local surface. He won the Grade 3 Holy Bull and finished second in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth here at age 3 before returning to run arguably the best race of his career in last month’s Harlan’s Holiday. At odds of 10-1, he ran down Tumbarumba to win by 1 1/4 lengths, earning a lifetime-best 99 Beyer Figure for the effort. “He does tend to like the surface here,” said Mott. “I’m hoping it’s a matter of getting him to appreciate the distance, surface, and competition. If we put that all together, we have a chance.” As for turning down the opportunity to run for the big money in the Pegasus, Mott said, “It was a combination of the distance and the class level, I suppose.” Tumbarumba and Rocket Can will face seven rivals, among them trainer Todd Pletcher’s promising maiden winner Upstanding and Little Vic, who finished third behind Mufasa and White Abarrio in last month’s Grade 3 Mr. Prospector. Going a mile in his 3-year-old finale here on Dec. 22, Upstanding earned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure while winning his first race in five career starts. “He’s been running in some fast races,” said Pletcher. “He ran outstanding in his first start as a gelding [and] has been training well, so we thought we might take a shot.” Mott live in Inside Information Mott will also have two of the leading contenders, Nic’s Style and Sterling Silver, in a very competitive renewal of the $215,000, Grade 2 Inside Information Stakes on Saturday. They are part of a nine-horse field of fillies and mares set to go seven furlongs that also features graded stakes winners Emery and Mystic Lake, along with 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up Jody’s Pride. Nic’s Style began her career locally in sensational fashion, winning her first two starts by a combined 16 1/2 lengths. She joined Mott’s barn the following season upon the retirement of her former trainer, Ralph Nicks, and captured three of her four outings in 2024. Her lone defeat was a second-place finish behind Eclipse Award finalist Ways and Means in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom at Aqueduct. She makes her 2025 debut off a 2 1/2-length victory against Florida-breds at Tampa Bay Downs on Dec. 14. “Junior [Alvarado] said she wan’t loving the track, but she won anyway [at Tampa] and she obviously runs very well over this track,” said Mott. Sterling Silver was disqualified from first after an apparent victory at Aqueduct in the 2023 Gallant Bloom with former trainer Tom Albertrani. She proceeded to finish third, nearly three lengths behind Nic’s Style, coming back in the same event last season. She closed out her 2024 campaign finishing second as the 4-5 favorite going a mile in the Bay Ridge for New York-breds on Dec. 27 at the Big A. Emery figures to be the one to beat exiting a two-length victory in the Grade 2 Raven Run going seven furlongs at Keeneland on Oct. 19. It was her only start since running second behind Ways and Means at Saratoga in the Grade 1 Test on Aug. 3. Emery also won the Grade 3 Victory Ride, outlasting Mystic Lake by three-quarters of a length, last summer at Aqueduct. “I think she’s developed physically since her last race and she’s drawn well for this one,” said trainer Brad Cox. “Hopefully she can sit a good trip outside. She’s a really honest filly and I think she’s going to run well.” – additional reporting by David Grening :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.