Rocco Strong looks to continue routing success

There was a point when owner Marshall Gramm thought Whittington Park and Rocco Strong were similar types and might ultimately find themselves running against each other.

But Whittington Park has seemed to have found a niche as a closing sprinter/middle-distance type while Rocco Strong may be developing into a true route horse. Last Sunday, Whittington Park won the $100,000 Haynesfield Stakes going a one-turn mile. Friday, Rocco Strong looks for his second straight win at nine furlongs when he runs in a second-level $62,500 allowance/optional-claimer that goes as the final race on Aqueduct’s eight-race program.

Gramm’s Ten Strike Racing and trainer Michelle Giangiulio claimed Rocco Strong for $32,000 last June out of a race in which the gelding by Shackleford finished seventh.

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Unsure of what they had, Gramm and Giangiulio ran Rocco Strong twice at the $25,000 level, where he was second going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga before winning a one-turn mile race at Aqueduct.

Rocco Strong was kept at one turn until his last start, when he took advantage of a nice setup, but also made a nice run to win a 1 1/8-mile allowance by 4 3/4 lengths at odds of 10-1.

“He was a longshot last time when he won. He was doing really well,” Gramm said. “I thought he was a good bet that day. This is the next step up.”

Kendrick Carmouche rides Rocco Strong from post 5.

Gramm said he’s always been a fan of the marathon-type stakes and would love to see Rocco Strong develop into the type of horse that could run in races like the Brooklyn or Birdstone.

Friday, Rocco Strong will take on a couple of proven route runners in Leading Contender and No Burn. Leading Contender, trained by Chad Brown, cleared his first-level allowance hurdle at nine furlongs before finishing second at this level going 1 3/16 miles Feb. 3, a day in which he raced wide throughout. On Friday, he breaks from the rail.

No Burn, who has 10 wins from 26 starts, has run two of his better races at 1 1/8 miles, winning a $40,000 claimer Dec. 9 and running second to Law Professor in a multi-conditioned allowance Jan. 26. Law Professor came back to win again here last Friday.

“At this stage of his career, he’s a better mile-and-an-eighth horse,” trainer Oscar Barrera III said of No Burn. “Two turns is a bit easier on him, gives him time to get his legs underneath him. Even though I’m on a cold streak, he should be able to show up and run well.”

Barrera is 1 for 34 since No Burn won here last Dec. 9.

Kuchar finished third in the same race in which Leading Contender was second on Feb. 3 in his first start for Rudy Rodriguez. Mystic Night, a route horse who has been claimed five times since last April, I Am the Law, Dee Jay, and Alternate Reality complete the field.

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