C Z Rocket wins 'rubber match' with Whitmore

Jockey Florent Geroux and C Z Rocket (6) cross the wire in front of Whitmore (2) and Ricardo Santana Jr. to win the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Saturday. - Photo by Richard Rasmussen of The Sentinel-Record
Jockey Florent Geroux and C Z Rocket (6) cross the wire in front of Whitmore (2) and Ricardo Santana Jr. to win the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Saturday. - Photo by Richard Rasmussen of The Sentinel-Record

The idea of rubber matches deciding three-contest sets when the first two were split between two entrants has wandered from the world of 16th-century English lawn bowling to the racetrack at Oaklawn.

Saturday's rubber match at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort was the Grade 3 $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap before an estimated crowd of 17,000, which was won by C Z Rocket, the 2-1 second-choice, in 1:09.62.

Whitmore, the 1-1 favorite, finished two lengths back in second in the six-furlong race. Empire of Gold was third, 3 1/2 lengths behind the winner and a neck in front of fourth-place Strike Power.

First mention of the series in lawn-bowling terms was made by trainer Peter Miller after C Z Rocket raced from his barn to outrun Whitmore by a neck in Oaklawn's Hot Springs on March 13. That victory helped to avenge Whitmore's 3 1/4-length win over second-place C Z Rocket in Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., on Nov. 7, 2020, a win after which Whitmore earned the Eclipse Award as last season's champion male sprinter.

Oaklawn president Louis Cella called the race "...the rubber match," when he said the Count Fleet was the race he would watch on Arkansas Derby Day if he were limited to one.

C Z Rocket, a son of City Zip ridden by Florent Geroux, and Whitmore, a son of Pleasantly Perfect ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr. and trained by Ron Moquett, followed far behind the pace set through the opening quarter-mile of 21.92 by No Parole. Whitmore was fourth and C Z Rocket sixth.

Strike Power led through the half in 45.35 with Whitmore 1 1/4 lengths back in fifth and C Z Rocket sixth, four lengths behind the leader.

C Z Rocket had run unhurried through the turn, five and six wide, but found a clear route to the lead by a head the stretch. Whitmore was in tight quarters around the turn but Santana Jr. found an opening late and was a length back in second, and he and Whitmore turned for home. He appeared to close briefly after the 16th pole, but C Z Rocket dug in and pulled away late.

"It was a good ride," Miller said. "He kept him out of trouble. We did lose a lot of ground, but it's better than getting stopped. He's just a great horse. Whitmore's a great horse, and I'm just sorry one of them had to lose."

Moquett said he felt good about Whitmore's effort.

"It was a good race," Moquett said. "The home crowd, I promise you, would've loved to see a reversal but at the same time, congratulations to them. There's a lot of pressure on (C Z Rocket) now because the last horse to beat us in the Count Fleet went on to win the Breeders' Cup (Sprint)."

Whitmore finished second to Mitole in the 2019 Count Fleet, and after winning the Breeders' Cup earned an Eclipse Award as champion male sprinter.

The two favorites took different routes to their sprint accomplishments.

First purchased by Frank Fletcher of North Little Rock, owner of Frank's Rockette, C Z Rocket had a career record of 17 4-1-2 when southern California-based trainer Peter Miller claimed him for new owners after he finished fifth of nine in a $40,000-claiming sprint at Oaklawn last season.

Miller said C Z Rocket bled during the race. Once measures were taken to heal, the gelded son of City Zip responded to win six of his next seven starts, all sprints. His only loss came in a second-place finish to Whitmore in the Grade 1 six-furlong Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, on Nov. 7, 2020.

That result was reversed at Oaklawn on March 13 when C Z Rocket took the lead in the final 50 yards to beat Whitmore by a neck.

Whitmore has remained in trainer Ron Moquett's barn from the start of his racing career as a two-year-old in 2015. He at first showed top-level two-turn talent, finishing second, second and third, respectively, in Oaklawn's 2016 Grade 3 Southwest Stakes and Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at 1 1/16th miles and the Grade 1 nine-furlong Arkansas Derby, all Kentucky Derby qualifiers. Ranked 15th in the final Derby-points standings, Whitmore finished 19th in the Derby, his last two-turn race to date.

Upcoming Events