Rocket Can rallies to triumph over Tumbarumba in Harlan's Holiday

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Rocket Can, who qualified for the 2023 Kentucky Derby with a victory in the Grade 3 Holy Bull and a second place in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, showed his affinity for the local surface again on Saturday, rallying to a 1 1/4-length victory over Tumbarumba in the $165,000 Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes.

Rocket Can had started just six times since his ninth-place finish in the 2023 Derby, the most recent outing resulting in the poorest performance of his career, also a ninth-place finish beaten 20 lengths, earlier this month at Churchill Downs in the Cherokee Mile Stakes.

But knowing how well his horse had performed here in the past, trainer Bill Mott decided to throw out that effort and wheel Rocket Can back on only three weeks' rest in the Harlan’s Holiday, which serves as the final local prep for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 25.

With Junior Alvarado back aboard, Rocket Can rated near the rear of the eight-horse field, but within easy striking distance of the pacesetting Digital Ops in the run down the backstretch of the 1 1/16-mile Harlan’s Holiday. Rocket Can slipped inside the tiring 6-5 favorite Tuscan Sky while commencing his bid leaving the backstretch, angled five wide to engage Tumbarumba into the stretch, ultimately wearing down the leader near midstretch to win going away.

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Tumbarumba prompted the pace from the outset, gained command under confident handling nearing the quarter pole, fanned Rocket Can wide when angled out into the stretch, but proved no match in the final sixteenth. It was another 3 3/4 lengths back to third-place finisher Steal Sunshine.

Tuscan Sky came under early pressure, gave way before six furlongs and finished a disappointing seventh while making his first start against older horses.

Rocket Can, a 4-year-old son of Into Mischief owned by Frank Fletcher Racing Operations Inc., covered the distance over a fast track in 1:45.01 seconds and returned $22.00 for his fourth win in 15 career starts.

“His last race was one of those head scratchers,” Mott said by phone immediately after the race. “He wasn’t good in the gate, got jostled a little leaving there, just jumped up and down and was never a factor. The race didn’t take anything out of him, he worked good after he got down here, so we decided to run him right back, knowing how he liked this racetrack as a 3-year-old.”

Mott said he was uncertain whether he would accept the invitation that is now likely to be tendered to Rocket Can to the Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 25.

“I don’t know if he’s great at nine furlongs, but he does like the racetrack, so we’d probably have to consider it,” Mott said.

Trainer Saffie Joseph entered five fillies in the $140,000 Sugar Swirl Stakes, started three, but in the end only needed one, Mystic Lake, who rallied from just off the pace to a popular three-quarter-length victory over Socially Selective in the six-furlong fixture for fillies and mares.

Mystic Lake, a 3-year-old daughter of Mo Town, completed her 2024 campaign the way it began, with a stakes win. She started the season capturing the Gasparilla at Tampa Bay Downs 11 months ago for the first of five stakes victories during the year that also including one-sided triumphs in the Grade 3 Ms Preakness at Pimlico and Grade 2 Charles Town Oaks.

Mystic Lake was ridden to victory on Saturday by Irad Ortiz Jr. She completed the distance in 1:11.20 over a fast track and paid $3.20.

“That’s a relief,” Joseph said after the race. “Those kind of races you have nothing to gain, only to lose. Hopefully onward and upward from here. She’ll probably go next in the Inside Information. That would make sense. She’s 3 for 3 at seven-eighths. Today she showed a new dimension. She’s had a really good year. She’s really developed and trained on beyond expectations.”

The Grade 2 Inside Information will be run on the Pegasus World Cup undercard on Jan. 25.

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