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Frank’s Rockette seeks 11th career stakes win in Pumpkin Pie

by Ryan Martin

Frank Fletcher Racing Operations’ multiple stakes-winning millionaire Frank’s Rockette will seek to add to her list of endeavors in Sunday’s listed $135,000 Pumpkin Pie for fillies and mares 3-years-old and upward going seven furlongs at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Frank’s Rockette sports an impressive record of 29-12-10-4 with earnings in excess of $1.4 million. The 6-year-old daughter of Into Mischief commenced her 2023 season with an eight-length triumph in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie in March at Gulfstream Park before capturing the Roxelana in April at Churchill Downs. She enters the Pumpkin Pie from a pair of placed stakes efforts when third in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss on July 26 at Saratoga Race Course and second in the Pink Ribbon on August 25 at Charles Town – a race she won last year.

Frank’s Rockette sought prior stakes success when capturing three graded events on the NYRA circuit during her sophomore campaign. After a narrow win in the Grade 3 Victory Ride at Belmont in July 2020, she won the Grade 2 Prioress that September at Saratoga before a 7 1/4-length conquest in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom the following month at Belmont.

A Kentucky homebred, Frank’s Rockette is out of the graded stakes-winning Indian Charlie mare Rocket Twentyone.

Junior Alvarado, the pilot aboard five of Frank’s Rockette’s stakes wins, will have the call from post 4.

Team Valor International’s Green Up [post 3, John Velazquez] will emerge from a seven-month layoff after finishing third in the Grade 3 Doubledogdare in April at Keeneland. Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the 4-year-old Upstart dark bay captured last year’s Boiling Springs at Monmouth Park and Cathryn Sophia at Parx Racing en route to a distant fourth as the favorite in the Grade 1 Cotillion last September at Parx.

“She’s trained well, she obviously has a lot of ability and a lot of talent. We’re excited to get her back to the races,” said Pletcher’s Belmont-based assistant Byron Hughes.

Ken Wheeler, Jr.’s Kant Hurry Love [post 1, Trevor McCarthy] will face open stakes company for the first time for trainer David Duggan. The New York-bred daughter of Kantharos, bred by Dr. John M. McDermott and Laura G. McDermott, has maintained a perfect in-the-money record since joining Duggan’s stable, including a victory in the state-bred Dancin Renne on June 25 at Belmont Park. She enters from a runner-up in the Union Avenue on August 11 at Saratoga.

Trainer Mark Hennig will saddle Windylea Farm’s Into Happiness [post 5, Dylan Davis] who will make her stakes debut. The 4-year-old Into Mischief bay was claimed for $40,000 from her previous conditioner Michelle Nevin following a 12 1/4-length romp in June going a one-turn mile at Belmont. She captured her first two starts for Hennig when taking a seven-furlong starter allowance in July at the Spa before defeating allowance optional claiming company in August going one mile through the Spa’s Wilson Chute.

Completing the field is the David Jacobson-owned and trained Royal Meghan [post 2, Isaac Castillo], who enters from a narrow runner-up in a $32,000 claimer on October 27 at Belmont at the Big A. The 6-year-old Uncaptured bay mare was a five-time winner for her previous conditioner Fernando Abreu.

The Pumpkin Pie is carded as Race 2 on Sunday’s nine-race program, which also features the $150,000 Tempted and the $150,000 Nashua. First post is 12:20 p.m.

America's Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of every day of the Aqueduct Racetrack fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

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