Repo Rocks Faces First Grade 1 Test in Carter Handicap

It's a rare event when a sprinter is considered the top older Thoroughbred in America.

Yet that's exactly where Juddmonte's Elite Power  stands in the NTRA Top 10 poll by virtue of consecutive wins in last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) and most recently against international competition Feb. 25 in the $1.5 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3) in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the quality of the competition awaiting him when he resumes racing in the United States could be shaped by what happens in the April 8 $300,000 Carter Handicap (G1) at Aqueduct Racetrack, when a winter sensation will try to keep his flame burning bright into the spring and beyond.

Since the Double B Racing Stables ownership group turned Repo Rocks  over to trainer Jamie Ness in the fall, the Tapiture   gelding has won four straight races, capped by eye-opening wins in the Toboggan Stakes (G3) and most recently the Feb. 25 Stymie Stakes.

Now comes the acid test in the 5-year-old's first try against grade 1 company.

"We don't get many chances to run in grade 1 stakes, so we are very excited to be participating on Saturday," said Ness, who has won 3,911 races but came away with two unplaced finishes in his only grade 1 starts. "We'll see what he's got. He's got all the numbers and all of the things you need to win, but you have to do it against grade 1 horses. We'll see where we're at.

"The last time I started a horse in a grade 1 stakes (Ghost Hunter , who was 11th in the 2017 Arlington Million XXXV, G1T), no one called me for a preview."

The Toboggan and Stymie were totally different experiences for Repo Rocks. In the seven-furlong Jan. 28 Toboggan at the Big A, he ran his rivals off their feet as a 10-1 longshot, winning by 8 1/2 lengths in a blistering 1:23.42 on a slow track that earned a 120 Equibase Speed Figure. In the mile Stymie, also at Aqueduct, he encountered traffic problems and was wrestled back by jockey Andrew Wolfsont but took charge in the final eighth and won comfortably by 3 1/4 lengths as the 6-5 choice.

"He overcame trouble last time, and horses don't always do that," Ness said.  "I've been pretty confident. He's done everything right. We've won a lot of races and I know how hard it is to win four in a row, and to win five straight is really hard, but I wouldn't trade places with anyone."

Repo Rocks was bought for $70,000 from the Eaton Sales consignment at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale by owners Lee Einsidler and Mike Francesa and turned over to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. The Virginia-bred was winless in eight starts for Mott before he was claimed for $40,000 by trainer Tom Morley. In six starts for Morley, he posted a maiden win before he was claimed for $40,000 by Double B Racing and trainer Juan Vazquez. He won two of eight starts for Vazquez before moving to Gregory DiPrima and losing his next six starts after a win in his first try for his new trainer.

Transferred to Ness after a ninth in the Oct. 29 Bold Ruler Stakes (G3), he won the Let's Give Thanks Stakes and Blitzen Stakes at Parx Racing in his first two starts for Ness.

"He's a difficult horse to train. I'm not saying the people before me treated him with kid gloves, but that's not what I do. We changed things up," Ness said. "It's nothing physical. We've trained him really hard and it turned out well. We're lucky to have him and that he responded to our program."

Repo Rocks, who will also be carrying the hopes of his owner and jockey for an initial grade 1 win, was assigned the highweight of 122 pounds, two more than Little Vic .

Although seven were entered for the Carter, at most only six will start following the announced pre-race scratch of White Abarrio .

BloodHorse: White Abarrio Out of Carter After Temperature, Cough

Other leading threats in the Carter include Tom Fool Handicap (G3) winner Little Vic (Practical Joke  ); and Reddam Racing's Today's Flavor  (Laoban), another winner of four straight races.

Rounding out the field are the SF Racing, Starlight Racing, and Madaket Stable group's Doppelganger  (Into Mischief  ), St. Elias Stable's Expressman  (Liam's Map  ), and Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, and Pantofel Stable's Bold Journey  (Hard Spun  ), a six-length state-bred allowance winner in his last start for Mott.

Entries: Carter H. Presented by NYRA Bets (G1)

Aqueduct Racetrack, Saturday, April 08, 2023, Race 8

• Grade I
• 7f
• Dirt
• $300,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 4:19 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Today's Flavor (NY)	Manuel Franco	117	George Weaver	6/1
2	2Bold Journey (NY)	Eric Cancel	114	William I. Mott	12/1
3	3Expressman (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	117	Todd A. Pletcher	12/1
4	4Repo Rocks (VA)	Andrew Wolfsont	122	Jamie Ness	9/5
5	5Little Vic (KY)	Carlos Olivero	120	Juan Carlos Avila	3/1
6	6White Abarrio (KY)	Paco Lopez	119	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	2/1
7	7Doppelganger (KY)	Jevian Toledo	118	Brittany T. Russell	30/1