Lady Rocket 109th Stakes Winner for Tale of the Cat
Tale of the Cat registered his 109th worldwide stakes winner on Friday night when Lady Rocket (4f Tale of the Cat x Allons Danser, by Eskendereya) went gate-to-wire in the Misty Bennett Pink Ribbon Stakes.
Racing seven furlongs on the dirt at Charles Town, the filly was sent to the lead by Florent Geroux and put about a length on the field before they entered the first turn. The race favorite enjoyed a pressure-less run down the backstretch as horses swapped positions behind her before familiar rival Landing Zone secured the second place spot and started to target the leader.
Lady Rocket was confronted in mid-far turn but she wasn’t giving in and defended her position as they turned into the stretch. The Tale of the Cat daughter dug in and found another gear to win by 1 ¾ lengths for her second straight victory.
Owned by Frank Fletcher Racing and Ten Strike Racing, the Brad Cox trainee has now won four of her eight starts with three other on-the-board finishes for $288,008 in earnings. Her only off-the-board finish was a solid fourth in the Safely Kept Stakes last year.
A $420,000 OBS April purchase in 2019, Lady Rocket is out of a half-sister to stakes-placed Meistersinger and Southern Truth. The filly was bred by La Ciega LLC and Tale of the Cat Syndicate and is the third stakes performer in the first four generations of her female line with granddam Uncontrollable stakes-placed, third dam Graceful Minister a multiple stakes winner, and fourth dam Cagey Exuberance winning multiple graded stakes.
Tale of the Cat is North America’s Number 1 active sire by number of lifetime Northern hemisphere-foaled winners at 1174 with the stallion siring 1565 winners born worldwide. Tale of the Cat is also the sire of 237 stakes performers in 17 different countries.