Repo Rocks, a 5-year-old son of Tapiture, notched his fourth straight win, all in stakes, in Saturday’s $125,000 Stymie S. at Aqueduct.
The dark bay had an adventurous trip in the one-turn, one mile race. He was bottled up behind and inside of horses and under a stout hold for nearly five furlongs. He switched to the outside with three furlongs to go and came into the stretch full of run. He surged past Miles D soon after and poured it on late to win by 3 ¼-lengths in 1:36.75 on a fast main track.
“It was not what I wanted,” said winning trainer Jamie Ness. “When you run against this quality of horses, if you find trouble, you get beat. We got a great win. The mile was great and I knew he could stretch out, so I couldn’t be more thrilled.”
Repo Rocks started his current winning streak in the Let’s Give Thanks S. in November at Parx, then annexed that track’s Blitzen S. in December, and followed that up with a huge Beyer Speed Figure of 111 in his 8 ½-length Toboggan S. (G3) win on Jan. 28 at Aqueduct. Owned by Double D Racing Stables, Repo Rocks is 8-6-6 in 33 starts and has earned $639,621.
Ness said that the Carter H. (G1) on April 8 is the logical next start for his stable star.
“The owner is from there and I want to keep him local. Why change something that’s working?” Ness said. “He’s a big horse and he needs a little time to level off. I like the mile distance, but if we have to cut back to seven-eighths it is what it is.”
Repo Rocks was bred by Mrs. C. Oliver Iselin III. With five crops of racing age, Tapiture is currently second among his peers on the 2023 list. He stands this year at Darby Dan for $7,500 S&N.
