C Z Rocket Back for More at Oaklawn Park

C Z Rocket  was Oaklawn Park's top older male sprinter during the 2021 meeting that ended in May, but the millionaire multiple grade 2 winner returns to Hot Springs for the 2021-2022 season trying to snap a five-race losing streak. The first chance comes in a $120,000 allowance sprint Dec. 18 that his connections are using as a prep for the $150,000 King Cotton Stakes Jan. 29.

Owned by Altamira Racing Stable, Madaket Stables, Gary Barber, and Tom Kagele, C Z Rocket was 2 for 2 last season at Oaklawn, toppling reigning male sprint champion Whitmore  in the Hot Springs Stakes and Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3). C Z Rocket is winless since, exiting a seventh in the Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 6 at Del Mar. He now receives the diuretic Lasix for the first time since May's $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile Stakes (G3) in Saturday's six-furlong eighth race.

"He needs it," Kagele said Dec. 14. "I don't think there's any secret he was falling off in races that he hasn't had Lasix, but he still ran pretty well. We tried him in the Breeders' Cup and didn't run that great there. Coming out of that race, his blood was a little off, so he had a little bit of an excuse there."

Rene Amescua is C Z Rocket's new trainer after the gelding's prior trainer, Peter Miller, announced last month he was stepping away from training for a period of time. Miller, who claimed C Z Rocket for Kagele for $40,000 in 2020, is still serving as an advisor to owners. According to Kagele, Miller also owns a piece of the horse.

C Z Rocket, a 7-year-old gelded son of City Zip , has an 11-4-4 record from 30 career starts and earnings of $1,511,641.

Amescua has raced extensively in California and won more than 900 races in his career, according to Equibase.

Regular rider Florent Geroux is named to ride C Z Rocket, the 5-2 program favorite, from post 8.

Also entered are grade 2 winner Long Range Toddy  and stakes-winning Mucho , who most recently was second, beaten a head, in the $300,000 Bet On Sunshine Stakes Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs. 

Willis Horton Racing's Long Range Toddy is 0-for-10 in 2020-21, but has earned more than $1 million over his career for trainer Dallas Stewart. Stakes-winning Mucho races for WSS Racing and 4 G Racing after being claimed by trainer John Ortiz for $80,000 at Churchill in November 2020.

The King Cotton is Oaklawn's first of three major races for older sprinters. The series continues with the $200,000 Whitmore Stakes (formerly the Hot Springs) March 19 and the $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) April 16.