Welcome to 2023 Kentucky Derby Prospect Snapshots, the place we’ll have a look every week at a latest winner on the Triple Crown path, often from the Highway to the Kentucky Derby schedule from which the racehorses earn factors towards qualifying.
The 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby Introduced by Woodford Reserve will probably be held Might 6, 2023, at Churchill Downs.
This week, we’ll take a more in-depth have a look at Rocket Can, winner of the $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes on Feb. 4 at Gulfstream Park.
Rocket Can earned 20 factors towards qualifying for the 2023 Kentucky Derby with the Holy Bull win and moved into third place on the most recent Highway to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 20 complete factors.
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Racing Résumé: Rocket Can was unplaced in a pair of seven-eighths-of-a-mile sprints to start his profession final summer season at Saratoga Race Course, however he improved with added distance and has since posted two wins and one second in three races round two turns.
The Into Mischief colt received a 1 1/16-mile maiden particular weight race on a sloppy observe Oct. 30, 2022, at Churchill Downs earlier than closing out his 2-year-old season with a runner-up end Nov. 26 at Churchill Downs, the place he was overwhelmed by a half-length by Confidence Sport.
Rocket Can returned from a two-month layoff Feb. 4 within the Grade 3 Holy Bull, two weeks after Confidence Sport completed third within the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at Truthful Grounds, and exceeded expectations because the second betting selection within the eight-horse Holy Bull area.
Ranging from the surface publish, Rocket Can was pressured large getting into the primary flip and raced large all through whereas stalking a simple tempo set by Mr Bob. He moved to the entrance below Junior Alvarado nearing the highest of the stretch and held off runner-up Shadow Dragon by three-quarters of a size.
The ultimate time of 1:44.97 for 1 1/16 miles was not quick, to place it mildly. However that was due partially to the sluggish tempo, and Rocket Can did end moderately properly with a remaining sixteenth of a mile in 6.43 seconds and a remaining five-sixteenths in just a bit over 31 seconds.
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Whereas the pace figures (extra on that beneath) weren’t eye-catching, make no mistake this was a big step in the suitable path for Rocket Can in his 3-year-old debut.
Velocity Figures: Rocket Can’s Equibase Velocity Figures for his remaining two begins in 2022 – his two-turn races – have been 89-97 and he equaled the quantity from his maiden win with an 89 for the Holy Bull. From a Beyer Velocity Determine perspective, he equaled a career-top within the Holy Bull with an 82 and now has a line of 78-82-82 for his three two-turn races. He should construct off the Holy Bull win and enhance to compete with the sooner horses of this 3-year-old division.
Operating Model: Rocket Can has some pure pace, which helped him acquire place early with the brief run into the primary flip within the Holy Bull, and he relaxes properly right into a stalking/monitoring place. In his remaining begin of 2022, he was inside a couple of lengths of a sooner early tempo, so that provides some cause for optimism that he can deal with a sooner tempo and nonetheless end properly.
Connections: Arkansas native Frank Fletcher Jr. is the proprietor of Fletcher Auto Group, which started with one retailer in 1989 and has grown to 10 automotive dealerships, resulting in a rating within the prime 100 Automotive Sellers in U.S.
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Fletcher’s different racing standouts embody Officer Rocket, Frank’s Rockette, and Sweet Man. Fletcher completed third within the 2021 Arkansas Derby with Son of Rocket.
Rocket Can is skilled by Corridor of Famer Invoice Mott, who ranks fourth all time amongst North American trainers by purse earnings with greater than $325 million and has amassed 5,283 profession wins by means of Feb. 5. A 3-time Eclipse Award winner as excellent coach with 12 Breeders’ Cup victories to his credit score, Mott is greatest often called the coach of celebrity 1995 Breeders’ Cup Traditional winner Cigar. Mott received the 2019 Kentucky Derby Introduced by Woodford Reserve with 65-1 longshot Nation Home and the 2010 Belmont Stakes with 13-1 Drosselmeyer.
Junior Alvarado rode Rocket Can for his first two begins and was again aboard within the Holy Bull for Mott, with whom he had teamed per week earlier to win the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Introduced by Baccarat on Artwork Collector. Alvarado and Mott additionally teamed to win the 2022 Large Ass Followers Breeders’ Cup Filth Mile with fan favourite Cody’s Want. Alvarado earned the two,000th win of his profession aboard Broadway Power Jan. 21, 2023, at Gulfstream Park.
Pedigree Notes: Rocket Can is from the 11th crop of Into Mischief, the main normal sire in North America for 4 years working whose prime offspring embody 2020 Kentucky Derby winner and Horse of the 12 months Genuine in addition to champions Gamine, Surprise Wheel, and Covfefe and 2022 Pegasus World Cup winner Life Is Good.
Rocket Can’s dam (mom), Rigidity, is by one other main sire in Tapit, who sired 4 of the final 9 Belmont Stakes winners. Rocket Can’s grandam (maternal grandmother) is a number of Grade 1 winner Robust Tiz’s Sis, by two-time Breeders’ Cup Traditional winner Tiznow. Robust Tiz’s Sis received eight of 20 begins, together with six stakes, and earned $903,792 in three seasons.
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Why did Rocket Can enhance as his races received longer? Take one have a look at his pedigree and it’s fairly apparent. He’d bred to excel at longer distances.
Derby Potential: There isn’t a query that on paper Rocket Can doesn’t, at this level on the Derby path, stack up with the highest 3-year-olds. He’s simply not quick sufficient but, however there are causes to be optimistic.
Corridor of Fame coach Invoice Mott is a real maestro as a horseman and longer distances needs to be no challenge for Rocket Can.
“It looks as if he can preserve going. Hopefully, one other sixteenth is sweet and one other three-sixteenths is even higher,” Mott mentioned after the Holy Bull. “Time will inform that.”
Rocket Can is bred prime and backside to be a star round two turns, however with 5 begins to his credit score and just one or two prep races left earlier than the Kentucky Derby, this flashy grey or roan colt must show quickly that he’s received one other gear in him to say a spot among the many prime 3-year-olds on the 2023 Triple Crown path.
The Kentucky Wildcats are getting ready to take on Georgia State in Rupp Arena as Mark Pope’s squad will look to move to 7-0 on the season. In the Wildcat’s first game of the week, they took down WKU, but for the first team, all season looked vulnerable.
The Wildcats were able to win this game 87-68, but there were some things Coach Pope’s team could have done better. Defensively the Wildcats were solid in the win, but the threes weren’t falling in this ball game.
A game like this was good for Kentucky because they have looked unstoppable against every team this season aside from Duke, so a little bit of struggle is a good thing. The threes won’t always fall, so the Wildcats need to learn to win a game when this is happening.
Now the Wildcats will take on Georgia State who is 4-3 on the season. The Panthers played Mississippi State earlier in the season, and the Bulldogs blew them out 101-61 in Starkville.
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ESPN doesn’t seem to think the Wildcats will struggle in this ball game as they give Kentucky a 98.2% chance to win.
The goal in this game for the Wildcats should be to keep working on the rebounding and taking care of the ball but also the shots need to fall.
The matchup between the Kentucky Wildcats and Georgia State will be on Friday the 29th at 7:00 pm et. Kentucky fans can watch this game on the SEC Network. Coach Pope and his team shouldn’t have any issue blowing out the Panthers on Friday.
Thanks to a dominant offensive performance from every position across the net, No. 12 Kentucky picked up a 3-1 victory over No. 24 Missouri Wednesday night in Columbia (25-19, 25-14, 23-25, 25-20) to capture the SEC Title outright for the second-consecutive season.
As they’ve done for much of the season, the Cats once again turned to their superstar sophomore to deliver under the brightest lights as DeLeye recorded a match-high 19 kills on an impressive .359 clip. She also picked up five service aces in the winning effort and rattled off a 5-0 service run to bring the Cats back within a point and kickstart a comeback after trailing by as many as six in the fourth and final set.
DeLeye wasn’t doing it by herself against the Tigers, however, as Megan Wilson (13) and Brooke Bultema (11) also eclipsed double figures in the match. Rounding out the scoring was Jordyn Dailey, who finished with nine kills on a .750 hitting percentage and Erin Lamb, who finished with eight terminations.
Kentucky was paced by senior setter Emma Grome who dished out a match-high 54 assists as the Cats hit .377 as a team.
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On the back line Eleanor Beavin led the way with 15 digs and a pair of service aces. Molly Tuozzo added 14 digs to go along with four assists and a service ace, Grome finished with eight digs, Wilson had six, and DeLeye had five.
Dailey led the defensive effort at the net with four rejections. Grome added three, Wilson had a pair, and Bultema and DeLeye each totaled one.
With the victory, Kentucky concludes the regular season with a 20-7 overall record and a 14-2 mark in the SEC and are currently riding an 11-match winning streak. With no matches left to play, the Cats claimed the SEC Title outright and the NCAA Tournament’s automatic qualifier over Texas, who currently sits in second place with three losses and a match still left to play. With the regular season concluded, Kentucky now awaits their NCAA Tournament berth as the 2024 NCAA Volleyball Selection Show airs Sunday evening at 6:00 pm ET. The top-16 seeded teams named by the committee will host the First and Second Rounds next weekend on campus.
Kentucky football lost a 2025 wide receiver when recruit Ja’kayden Ferguson re-opened his recruitment in mid-November. Now, they have gained a commitment from top 500 receiver Dejerrian Miller to take the open spot.
Miller is a 6’3″, 195 lb receiver out of Missouri. He is rated four stars, and is ranked as the number 379 overall player in the 2025 class in the 247sports composite rankings. He is the 53rd ranked receiver in the class.
Eight options to replace coach Mark Stoops
Coach Mark Stoops and his staff have put together a solid recruiting class for 2025 so far. It’s currently ranked 25th in the country, though it is the 13th best class of the 16 teams of the SEC.
Miller joins Quintin Simmons Jr., Preston Bowman, and Montavin Quisenberry as wide receivers who are committed to Kentucky for 2025. Miller’s size should be an advantage for him as he looks to find playing time. It’s good get for the Wildcats and Stoops, who continues to bring in quality players at the receiver position.
