Frank's Rockette

Getting down to business early, the champion 2-year-old filly from 2021 and 'TDN Rising Star' Echo Zulu, added the second graded stakes victory of her 4-year-old campaign with a geared-down win in the GII Honorable Miss H. Wednesday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course. Breaking from the inside post position, the 2-5 favorite rushed out to the early lead and was shadowed by Frank's Rockette through a quarter in :22.02 and a half in :44.45. Echo Zulu waved good bye to that foe at the top of the lane, striding clear...

The GII Honorable Miss H. at Saratoga is named after the highly-successful multiple stakes-winning mare from the 1970s. Owned by Edith Bancroft's sons who carried on the family tradition established by their grandfather, William Woodward Sr., the pair founded Pen-Y-Bryn Farm after their own mother's passing. With only four entered, this year's edition is highlighted by the Saratoga return of '21 champion 2-year-old filly and MGISW Echo Zulu (Gun Runner). The Steve Asmussen trainee won her juvenile debut at the Spa when she soared to become a 'TDN Rising Star'...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When three veteran turf writers approached him at his Saratoga barn last week, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott impishly decided to reverse roles. Before the journalists were able to offer more than a hello, Mott started asking pretty much the same questions he knew were coming his way. For several seconds, the interviewee was the light-hearted interviewer. Mott knows the drill. He has been training horses since he was a teenager in Mobridge, South Dakota, was inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of...

Trainer Todd Pletcher has unsaddled the winner of the GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby a record five times--no one else has more than two to their credit--and he stands a fair chance to make it a half-dozen Saturday afternoon when he sends out the two favorites on the morning line. Pegged at odds of 8-5 is Whisper Hill Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit), who will attempt to provide his sire with a fourth winner of the race since in its last 10 runnings (Ring Weekend, 2014; the...

'TDN Rising Star' Kimari (Munnings) earned her first graded win of the season Wednesday when rallying to victory in Saratoga's GII Honorable Miss H. The 3-1 third choice in a four-horse field, the bay broke a hair slow from the outside post, though not as slow as second choice Frank's Rockette (Into Mischief) in the one-hole. Kimari sat off the fence in third with Frank's Rockette off her inside flank as favored Bella Sofia (Awesome Patriot) and 8-1 outsider Amadevil (Dominus) knocked heads on the front end. Amadevil cruised clear...

Center Aisle (Into Mischief) and 'TDN Rising Star' Frank's Rockette (Into Mischief) ran hard every step of the way in Saturday's six-furlong GIII Sugar Swirl S. at Gulfstream, and, after throwing down in the stretch, it was the former coming away with a hard-fought, one-length victory for a career high. Perched four-wide beneath Luis Saez as four of them lined up--including favored MGSW & MGISP Frank's Rockette who was racing under fire in between runners--through an opening quarter in a sharp :21.72, Center Aisle poked a head in front approaching...

Trainer Cipriano Contrereas and Andrew Knapczyk's Inthemidstofbiz (Fed Biz) faces five other fillies and mares in an attempt to defend her title in Saturday's GII Thoroughbred Club of America S., a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar Nov. 6. In two starts this term, Inthemidstofbiz won an Indiana optional claimer on the dirt May 20 before finishing fourth in the Aug. 30 Satin and Lace S. over Presque Isle Downs' synthetic surface, the same race she used as a prep...

It's a philosophy that sustains a stable of Rockets--but it's not rocket science. Anything but, according to Frank Fletcher. "First, you really want to work hard," he says. "Number two, you got to have a stroke of luck. And, number three, when you get lucky and start being successful, you need to surround yourself with people a lot smarter than you are." Let's deal with those in reverse order. Because Fletcher says that the horse we want to discuss is all about the third rule; about the excellence of his...

The speedy 'TDN Rising Star' Frank's Rockette stalked and pounced her way to a second straight graded tally. Frank's Rockette broke on top, but settled off the pace of Hello Beautiful (Golden Lad) as Reagan's Edge was well-placed in third. The 3-2 favorite took over under a hold before reaching the quarter pole, kicked clear from there and reported home as a much-the-best winner. "I think we made the right choice [to run in the Prioress]," winning Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. "The filly that ran in the...

After a second straight year of rounding out the exacta at the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting, 'TDN Rising Star' Kimari (Munnings) returns from across the pond as the 2-1 morning-line choice in Saturday's GII Prioress S. at Saratoga. The 2019 G2 Queen Mary S. runner-up and 2020 G1 Commonwealth Cup second-place finisher has won her two prior attempts on dirt-airing on debut at Keeneland last spring and defeating the re-opposing 'TDN Rising Star' Frank's Rockette (Into Mischief) in a sloppy renewal of Oaklawn's Purple Martin S. Apr. 4. Kimari has...

TDN Rising Star Frank's Rockette (Into Mischief) wasn't given the easiest of tasks in the early going of Saturday's GIII Victory Ride S., but she showed her grit and class late with a hard-fought head score over the well-meant Reagan's Edge (Competitive Edge). Off a hair slow, the Bill Mott trainee raced out to take an early advantage from her inside draw and was closely attended by Reagan's Edge, an allowance winner at Churchill in May, and Center Aisle (Into Mischief), a $1.5-million Fasig-Tipton Florida sale graduate who scored first...

'TDN Rising Star' Frank's Rockette (Into Mischief), never worse than second in seven lifetime starts, seeks her first graded win in Belmont's GIII Victory Ride S. at 6 1/2 furlongs. While her only black-type win was the ungraded Any Limit S. Feb. 22 at Gulfstream, she had a trio of seconds last year in the GI Frizette S., GI Spinaway S., and GII Adirondack S. ranging from 6 1/2 panels to eight furlongs. Since shipping up from Payson Park, the Bill Mott pupil has had three works at Belmont--two of...