Frank's Rockette, Bell's the One Face Off in TCA

When the field for the $250,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) breaks from the gate Oct. 9 at Keeneland, it will include a pair of talented sprint females in Frank's Rockette  at the rail and Bell's the One  on the outside. 

The TCA, a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, attracted a field of six that also includes last year's winner Inthemidstofbiz . With the race part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, Saturday's winner will receive an automatic berth in the Nov. 6 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) at Del Mar.

Frank Fletcher Racing Operations' homebred Frank's Rockette arrives off a third-place finish, missing only by a neck after breaking a step slowly in the Aug. 23 Seeking the Pearl Stakes at Colonial Downs. A multiple graded stakes winner trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, she has not finished out of the money in five starts this season and picked up her second win of 2021 in the July 3 Saylorville Stakes at Prairie Meadows. The speedy 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief   has started as the favorite in all but one of her 16 races, the one race being last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) against males, which was her only time finishing out of the top three. The Breeders' Cup Sprint is her only previous race at Keeneland. Junior Alvarado returns in the irons.

"She was messing around in the gate and moving around at the start and got left," Mott said of her race last out in the Seeking the Pearl. "She wasn't focused at the start. She was trailing the field which didn't help her but she ran a very good race considering she got left. She's doing good now."

Lothenbach Stables' Bell's the One has the most starts at Keeneland of any TCA entrant with six, and she holds a 2-1-2 record at the Lexington oval. Out of her 20-lifetime starts, the 5-year-old Majesticperfection  mare has won multiple graded stakes for trainer Neil Pessin, topped by the 2020 Derby City Distaff Stakes Presented by Derby City Gaming (G1) at Churchill Downs. In her last two outings, when she was finally the bettors' top choice, she rallied to win the July 28 Honorable Miss Handicap (G2) at Saratoga Race Course and came up half a length short when second in the Sept. 18 Open Mind Stakes at Churchill. Regular rider Corey Lanerie will be back aboard Saturday.

Inthemidstofbiz, owned by Andrew Knapczyk and trainer Cipriano Contreras, capped a three-race win streak with a front-running, three-length victory in last year's TCA. She did not return until May of this year when she took an allowance optional claiming event at Indiana Grand. In only her second start of the year, she finished fourth in the Aug. 30 Satin and Lace Stakes on the all-weather surface at Presque Isle Downs, a race she won a year ago. The 5-year-old Fed Biz   mare will break from post 3 with jockey Emmanuel Esquivel, who guided her in her two races this year. 

She and Frank's Rockette—provided the latter breaks well—are the anticipated front-runners in a sprint relatively short of pace.

Trainer Juan Arriagada will send out the June 4 Bed o' Roses Stakes (G3) winner Estilo Talentoso , who drops in class after a close fifth finish behind champion Gamine in the Aug. 28 Ketel One Ballerina Handicap (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. Meanwhile, Keeneland-based Ben Colebrook has entered Miss Mosaic  and Club Car , the latter of which won the Aug. 7 West Virginia Secretary of State Stakes last out. Club Car races with blinkers added.

Entries: Thoroughbred Club of America S. (G2)

Keeneland, Saturday, October 09, 2021, Race 7

• Grade II
• 6f
• Dirt
• $250,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 4:12 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Frank's Rockette (KY)	Junior Alvarado	120	William I. Mott	5/2
2	2Club Car (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	120	Ben Colebrook	10/1
3	3Inthemidstofbiz (KY)	Emmanuel Esquivel	120	Cipriano Contreras	10/1
4	4Estilo Talentoso (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	122	Juan Arriagada	5/2
5	5Miss Mosaic (KY)	Colby J. Hernandez	120	Ben Colebrook	15/1
6	6Bell's the One (KY)	Corey J. Lanerie	122	Neil L. Pessin	7/5