Repo Rocks Draws Off to Upset Toboggan Victory
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Susie Raisher
Repo Rocks wins the Toboggan Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack
Double B Racing Stables’ Repo Rocks , expertly handled by Andrew Wolfsont, drew off to an 8 1/2-length score to make the grade in the $150,000 Toboggan Stakes (G3), a seven-furlong sprint for older horses Jan. 28 at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The 5-year-old Tapiture gelding is 3-for-3 since joining the barn of trainer Jamie Ness. He entered Saturday's test off a pair of stakes wins under Wolfsont at Parx Racing, taking the Let’s Give Thanks Stakes in November and the Blitzen Stakes last out Jan. 4 on a sloppy and sealed main track.
"I knew it was a tough race, so I was extremely happy," said Stephen Fox, managing partner of Double B Racing Stables. "I knew if he came out with his best, he would have more than a shot. It’s three in a row now, all with Andrew on him. So, I’m very excited about him. I’m very, very happy to win a graded stakes and that I was here for it.”
Pirate Rick , racing as the 6-5 favorite on short rest from a sharp optional-claiming win at Aqueduct Jan. 22, set the Toboggan tempo, marking the opening quarter-mile in :22.86 on the fast main track with stakes winner Little Vic tracking from second and Repo Rocks saving ground in third.
Pirate Rick reached the half-mile in :45.76 as Little Vic loomed large to his outside, and Wolfsont angled Repo Rocks off the rail late in the turn to launch a three-wide bid. Repo Rocks, full of run, opened up by four lengths at the stretch call and surged clear of his rivals to stop the clock in 1:23.42, with Little Vic completing the exacta by 1 1/4-lengths over the late-running multiple graded-stakes winner Drafted .
The victory marked the first graded win for Wolfsont, who said the race set up perfectly for Repo Rocks.
“I knew the two pacesetters would be up front, and I thought maybe one other would be there,” Wolfsont said. “I was hoping I would only be laying a couple lengths off like I was, so I was feeling very confident on the backside and in the turn. Once I saw the outside speed horse (Little Vic) making his move, I just said, ‘I’ve got a lot of speed it looks like—it’s time to angle him out and ask him.’ As soon as I showed him daylight, he just took off. I felt like I moved too soon, but he just had so much horse and he finished well.”
Repo Rocks banked $82,500 in victory while improving his record to 7-6-6 in 32 starts. He returned $22.40 for a $2 win bet.
Bred in Virginia by Mrs. C. Oliver Iselin III, Repo Rocks is one of two black-type horses out of the Not For Love mare Hawaiian Love , the other being Not My Money (City Zip ), a stakes-placed Virginia-bred. Six of the dam's seven foals are winners, the exception being a yearling Exhi colt not yet of racing age named Hawaiian Express.
Repo Rocks twice went through sales as a young horse, acquired for $70,000 by LRE Racing / JEH Racing / RAP from the Eaton Sales consignment at the 2019 September Yearling Sale at Keeneland. The year before, he had been a $35,000 weanling purchase by Paradise Racing from the Eaton Sales consignment at the 2018 November Breeding Stock Sale.