LITTLE ROCK — Unbeaten Rocket in Juvenile
Unbeaten Rocket Twentyone is expected to be pre-entered today for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov.
4 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
Monday is the deadline for pre-entries for the richest two days in American racing.
Rocket Twentyone, who is owned by North Little Rock businessman Frank Fletcher, worked three quarters of a mile in 1:15.60 over a muddy Churchill surface Friday morning.
Regular rider Eddie Razo Jr. flew in for the work, said Kathy Moore-Howard of Hot Springs, Fletcher’s racing manager and the wife of Rocket Twentyone’s trainer, Tom Howard.
“She’s doing really good,” Moore-Howard said. “I don’t have enough good things to say about her.
She’s just improving all the time. Knock on wood, she stays sound.”
Rocket Twentyone was a candidate for the $400,000 Grade I Alcibiades Stakes on Oct. 7 at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., which was a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” event.
But Rocket Twentyone’s connections decided she would be trained up to the Breeders’ Cup.
Moore-Howard said they prefer to run Rocket Twentyone on dirt (Keeneland is a synthetic surface) and believe she will be selected to the field, even if it oversubscribes.
“We think we’ll get it,” Moore-Howard said.
In her last start, Rocket Twentyone was a half-length winner of the $100,000 Grade III Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes on Sept. 10 at Arlington Park in suburban Chicago.
She broke her maiden on dirt at Prairie Meadows in Iowa.
There are several other horses with ties to Arkansas or Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs expected to be pre-entered, including Havrede Grace (Classic, Ladies’ Classic), Flat Out (Classic), Caleb’s Posse (Sprint, Dirt Mile), The Factor (Sprint) and Strong Suit (Mile).
Telling update
Telling, a multiple Grade I stakes winner on the grass for Alex and JoAnn Lieblong of Conway, has resumed light training in Florida after recovering from a leg fracture.
Telling hasn’t started since finishing ninth in the $150,000 Grade II Elkhorn Stakes on April 29 at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.
Alex Lieblong said he’s been approached by breeding interests in New York and a decision on whether to retire Telling will be made based on his training during the upcoming weeks.
If Telling isn’t retired, Lieblong said the horse will remain this winter in Florida with trainer David Fawkes before returning to trainer Steve Hobby of Hot Springs.
Telling, a 7-year-old son of A.P. Indy, has trained the last few years at Oaklawn during the winter.
Final furlong
Arienza, a 3-year-old daughter of 2002 Horse of the Year Azeri, recorded a 5-furlong bullet (:59.60) last Sunday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., in preparation for her comeback at the upcoming Churchill fall meeting.
… She was a two-time winner at the 2011 Oaklawn meeting. … Alex Lieblong of Conway said Conway Two Step, a 2-year-old filly he owns with wife JoAnn, is out of danger after undergoing colic surgery following her victory in the $90,900 Brave Raj Stakes on Sept. 17 at Calder near Miami. Alex Lieblong said he is hoping to run Conway Two Step at the upcoming Oaklawn meeting. … Lieblong said multiple stakes winner Duke of Mischief has been freshened since his 10thplace finish in the $750,000 Grade I Whitney Handicap on Aug. 6 at Saratoga in upstate New York and will race next year. Lieblong and his wife are co-owners of Duke of Mischief, who captured the $500,000 Grade II Oaklawn Handicap in 2010.
Sports, Pages 29 on 10/23/2011