Fletcher’s ‘Boss Man’ faces endurance test

Boss Man Rocket, with jockey Leandro Goncalves aboard, won his first race Jan. 11 at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. The 3-year-old colt, owned by Frank Fletcher of North Little Rock, is scheduled to run Saturday at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs. It will be his first race around two turns.

Boss Man Rocket, with jockey Leandro Goncalves aboard, won his first race Jan. 11 at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. The 3-year-old colt, owned by Frank Fletcher of North Little Rock, is scheduled to run Saturday at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs. It will be his first race around two turns.

Friday, January 25, 2013

— The dream of North Little Rock businessman Frank Fletcher is to win the Arkansas Derby.

Fletcher’s dream, at least in 2013, remains alive through Boss Man Rocket, who is scheduled to make his local debut in Saturday’s seventh race at Oaklawn Park, an entry-level allowance event for 3-year-olds at a mile.

Boss Man Rocket, who was purchased for $800,000 at a 2-year-old in training sale, is coming off a flashy 4 1/2-length maiden victory Jan. 11 at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. The son of War Front (sire of 2011 Arkansas Derby favorite The Factor) earned a career-high 86 Beyer Speed Figure for his sprint victory.

Boss Man Rocket will be making his two-turn debut Saturday, a race designed as a prep for the $300,000 Grade III Southwest Stakes on Feb. 18.

“This mile sort of fits,” trainer Tim Glyshaw said Thursday morning. “ It’s easier to stretch out to this than it would be going a mile and a sixteenth or a mile and 70 yards at the Fair Grounds.”

Boss Man Rocket and stablemate Franks Officer Gal, a 3-year-old Officer filly also owned by Fletcher, shipped Monday from Fair Grounds to Oaklawn, where they will now be based.

Glyshaw, who has 20 horses in New Orleans, calls Boss Man Rocket “fast” but with breeding that suggests he can handle two turns.

Glyshaw, a former assistant to the late Bob Holthus, said his biggest concern is the 15-day turnaround, adding he would have preferred a workout leading up to the race. But that wasn’t feasible because of the tight window between races.

“It’s a situation we’re given,” Glyshaw said. “He’s definitely a talented horse. He just hasn’t figured it all out yet. He’s learning each start, but definitely a nice horse.”

Boss Man Rocket began his career in New York with Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and failed to beat a horse in two sprint starts last summer.

Fletcher moved Boss Man Rocket to Glyshaw last fall, and the colt has been much more competitive in his past two starts.

Boss Man Rocket recorded a string of bullet workouts, signifying a track’s fastest workout recorded at a specified distance on that day, before finishing third in a turf sprint at Fair Grounds, then broke his maiden in his following start.

“He’s going to be nice on some level,” Glyshaw said. “We don’t know, for sure, if it’s going to be on the dirt. He has a lot of turf breeding, so it could be on the turf later on.”

The major spring hope is the $1 million Grade I Arkansas Derby on April 13.

Fletcher won the Southwest in 2001 with the Holthus trained Son of Rocket, who was third in the Arkansas Derby.

Fletcher’s Officer Rocket, also trained by Holthus, ran second in the Southwest and seventh in the Arkansas Derby in 2007.

Sports, Pages 22 on 01/25/2013