Frank's Rockette Shows Grit in Victory Ride
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Photo: Coglianese Photos
Frank's Rockette (inside) holds off Reagan's Edge to win the Victory Ride Stakes at Belmont Park
It was hardly a shock that Frank Fletcher Racing Operations' grade 1-placed Frank's Rockette captured the $97,000 Victory Ride Stakes (G3).
Let's just say that at odds of about 1-2, she was surely the standout in a small field of five 3-year-old fillies July 4 at Belmont Park.
What can be considered surprising was how hard she had to work to earn the victory and the determination she needed to triumph by a head over 13-1 shot Reagan's Edge.
"She had to work a little harder than I thought. Looking at it on paper I thought she was deserving of being the favorite but she didn't win like a 2-5 shot. She had to work for it. She gutted it out," trainer Bill Mott said after the homebred daughter of Into Mischief notched her initial graded stakes win in near track-record time.
The speedy Frank's Rockette ($2.90), who has never been worse than second in eight starts, was surely the one to beat off her form and keen early speed in a field without another determined front-runner. Yet all of that changed when she came out of the gate on the slow side and found herself in an unexpected battle on the front end with David Ingordo's Reagan's Edge and OXO Equine's Center Aisle on her flank after an opening quarter-mile in :23.11.
"I was surprised they were able to press her. Looking at it on paper I thought she'd be in front and she was, but not with a clear lead. She was a tad flat-footed leaving the gate. I thought she would be a length or two in front on the backstretch, but it worked out," Mott said.
Runner-up in both the Frizette Stakes (G1) and Spinaway Stakes (G1) at 2, Frank's Rockette used a quick burst of speed under jockey John Velazquez to open a length lead at the top of the stretch, then dug down and held off a final bid by Reagan's Edge that made matters interesting at the wire.
The final time for the 6 1/2 furlongs on a fast track was a blazing 1:14.47, just off the track record of 1:14.46.
"At the end, she put in a real good fight," Velazquez said. "At the wire, I thought I had it. But right before the wire, I wasn't sure we were going to hold on."
The victory was the fourth for the daughter of the Indian Charlie mare Rocket Twentyone, whose current earnings stand at $413,603. Rocket Twentyone has dropped three foals, all of whom are at least stakes-placed.
As for what's next for the 3-year-old filly, Mott will take a long look at the seven-furlong Longines Test Stakes (G1) Aug. 8 at Saratoga Race Course.
"The Test is a great race," Mott said. "If she's doing well, I'd like to give her a try in there."
The Victory Ride was the stakes debut for Reagan's Edge, a daughter of Competitive Edge bred by Mauk One Farm, who was coming off a win in a May 16 allowance race at Churchill Downs that was washed off the turf.
"She has a lot of fight in her. It's so nice to have a horse like her in the barn who goes out and tries every time she's out there," trainer Cherie DeVaux said after her filly's fourth career start.
Center Aisle, an Into Mischief filly purchased for $1.5 million from Tom McCrocklin's consignment at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Florida Select 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, was three-quarters of a length back in third while making her third career start for trainer Chad Brown.