Ready to 'Rock' the Spa

Rock Fall (Speightstown), a sparkling victor of Belmont's GII True North S. June 5 (video), will put a five-race winning streak on the line in Saturday's GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. at Saratoga.

The dark bay, owned by Stonestreet Stables and trained by Todd Pletcher, earned a monstrous 110 Beyer Speed Figure for that performance while stopping the clock for six furlongs in 1:08.37. He covered his final eighth in :11.89 while making his first attempt versus stakes company that day.

“We just saw the horse breeze [four furlongs in :48.74] Saturday; he seems to be doing great and Todd's very happy with him,” Stonestreet's bloodstock advisor John Moynihan commented. “We're excited about this weekend.”

Since debuting with an eighth-place finish behind subsequent GI King's Bishop S. runner-up Fast Anna (Medaglia d'Oro) at Gulfstream last April, the $250,000 FTSAUG yearling graduate has been unbeatable. A runaway maiden winner in an off-the-turfer at Belmont a month later, he concluded his sophomore season with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance in a first-level allowance in Elmont that June.

It's been much of the same for Rock Fall in 2015. He put together back-to-back optional claiming victories in Hallandale Mar. 15 and Lexington Apr. 18, respectively, before posting his aforementioned 3 3/4-length tour-de-force over six rivals in the True North on GI Belmont S. eve. The fifth-place finisher in that one Favorite Tale (Tale of the Cat) returned to record a powerful victory over champion Work All Week (City Zip) in the GII Smile Sprint S. at Gulfstream July 5.

“We always had really high expectations for this horse,” Moynihan said. “From the time we bought him as a yearling at Saratoga–he was an absolutely gorgeous horse–to when we broke him at the farm, he always showed that he was gonna be really fast. We sent him to Todd early and he suffered a minor injury literally one or two works away from when he was going to run. We had to give him time off after that; he really would've been a great 2-year-old.”

Moynihan continued, “Naturally, when they throw in a performance like he did in the True North where you run virtually a Zero Rag, a 110 Beyer, etc., and the way he did it and how easy he did it, it's really impressive. We're tickled to death at Stonestreet that he got a chance to show how good he is because we've always had really high expectations for him.”

Rock Fall, bred in Kentucky by SF Bloodstock, is the first foal from the Medaglia d'Oro mare Renda. The two-time stakes winner and 2009 GII Forward Gal S. runner-up produced a colt by Super Saver in 2012; a filly by Sidney's Candy in 2013; and a filly by Bodemeister in 2014. She was bred back to Paynter in 2015.

“The horse himself, on a scale of one-to-10, is a 15,” Moynihan said. “He's absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. That's one of the reasons that we bought him. We love Speightstown and he's the first foal from a young, stakes-winning Medaglia d'Oro mare.”

Rock Fall is likely to square off against last term's King's Bishop winner and fellow 'TDN Rising Star' The Big Beast (Yes It's True); and multiple graded stakes winners Clearly Now (Horse Greeley), Departing (War Front) and Salutos Amigos (Salute the Sarge) in the Vanderbilt.

“We're taking it one race at a time,” Moynihan replied when asked if they've begun to plan ahead yet for the second half of the season with Rock Fall. “Hopefully, he performs really well Saturday. We'll look to see what Todd wants to do with him after that.”