Distaffers Head Friday's Top Rockette at Los Alamitos

Courtesy of Stallionesearch.com and Los Alamitos


Distaffers Head Friday's Top Rockette at Los Alamitos



Top Rockette winning the '67 Jet Deck at Los
Alamitos Race Course.
Photo Courtesy: AQHA/LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, CYPRESS, CA—Kay Larson's Mia Jones has competed in 18 races in her career and nine of those have been in stakes races. The daughter of Special Leader has now been assigned co-highweight of 125 pounds when she headlines a compact field of six in Friday's $18,000 Top Rockette Handicap at 350 yards.
Mia Jones, who is named after the oldest of trainer Paul Jones' daughters, will enter this race after running second in the Grade 3 Miss Princess Handicap on April 20.

Mia Jones, who has won five races including the KOFX FM Handicap at Sunland Park, has participated in several important Quarter Horse stakes. She ran in the Los Alamitos Winter Derby and Ruidoso Derby last year and also ran fifth in the Ruidoso Futurity in 2005.

Jose Gonzalez's Hold Me Now, who had a troubled trip in the Miss Princess, will also carry 125 pounds based on his two strong allowance victories earlier this year.

The Separatist mare also benefits from having the strong pairing of trainer Hector Jaime Hernandez and jockey Rodrigo Aceves. In their career, Hernandez and Aceves have combined to win 56 of 194 Quarter Horse races together for a strong win ratio of 29%. Hold Me Now will start from the rail.

Kaniska, winner of the 2006 La Primera Del Ano Derby, Kipas Flit, Dreams Can Fly and La Dominica will complete the field.

A Look Back At Top Rockette

Friday's featured race is named in honor of two-time AQHA Champion Top Rockette, an 1965 foal bred by Browne Cattle Company Inc. When it comes to Top Rockette, her stats tell a story of a mare that was as class personified. In 68 starts, she posted 25 wins, 17 of them in stakes races. She was second 17 times, 13 of those in stakes, and was third 10 times, seven of those in stakes. All in all, Top Rockette hit the board in 37 stakes races. A daughter of the Thoroughbred Rocket Bar and out of the Top Deck mare Kay Deck, Top Rockette earned $217,923 in her racing career.

Her biggest wins at Los Alamitos came in the 1967 Jet Deck and Las Ninas Handicap, the 1968 Los Alamitos Championship and Vandy's Flash Handicap, the 1969 Barbra B Handicap and 1970 Chicado V Handicap.

As a broodmare, Top Rockette had six starters, including 1982 Blue Ribbon Derby winner Easy Six Rockette. Top Rockette's bloodlines can be found on more recent sprinters like Governor's Cup Derby winner Fourth And Two, Grade 1 futurity runner-up Four And Two and stakes runners Zee Wayne and Seeking.

Her owner, Z. Wayne Griffin, produced for radio listeners The Burns and Allen Show and The Maxwell House Radio Hour. In the new (at that time) medium of television, Griffin was responsible for the GE Theater, hosted by Ronald Reagan. His movie credits included Family Honeymoon (1948) with Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert; Key to the City (1950), featuring Clark Gable, Raymond Burr and Loretta Young; and Lonestar (1952), where Gable was joined by Ava Gardner, Broderick Crawford and Lionel Barrymore in the starring roles.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com

COURTESY OF STALLIONESEARCH.COM


Mia Jones Makes Namesake Proud After Top Rockette Win



Mia Jones with Cody Jenson aboard wins the
Top Rockette Handicap.
Photo by Scott MartinezLOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, CYPRESS, CA—While one Mia Jones was sleeping at home, the other Mia Jones was sizzling on the racetrack Friday at Los Alamitos. Mia Jones, a filly by Special Leader, defeated Hold Me Now by a half length to win the $18,000 Top Rockette Handicap for 3-year-old and upwards fillies and mares.
Trained by Paul Jones for Kay Larson, Mia Jones covered the 350 yards in :17.46 while winning her first stakes race at Los Alamitos.

The filly Mia Jones is named after Paul Jones’ young daughter, who is her namesake’s biggest fan.

“Mia thinks that she owns this filly,” Jones said with a smile. “She loves this mare. I was going to pick her up and bring her to the track for this race, but she was too tired and ready to go to bed. I’m sure she’s asleep right now but she’ll be happy tomorrow morning when she hears that Mia Jones won this race.”

Jones likes to kid owner Kay Larson of Colorado for naming the filly after his daughter. “I tell him that the only reason he named it after her is so that I take real special care of his filly,” Jones said with a smile.

“The reason behind him naming her Mia Jones is that the filly was foaled right after my daughter was born (in 2003). You know, when a horse is named after someone you know, it’s hard not to pay attention to that horse.”

Jones knows what’s it’s like to share a name with a horse. The winner of the 46th running of the Kentucky Derby in 1920 was named Paul Jones.

Ridden by Cody Jensen, the Oklahoma-bred Mia Jones also won the KOFX FM Handicap at Sunland Park in February of 2007. Now a winner of six of 19 starts and earnings of $151,578, she’s also competed in the Los Alamitos Winter Derby, Ruidoso Derby and Ruidoso Futurity. She finished second in the Miss Princess Handicap in her previous start.

Jose Gonzalez’s Hold Me Now earned $4,050 for her runner-up effort.That lifted her career bankroll to $73,595. Dreams Can Fly finished third; giving her 13 top three finishes from 21 career outings.

Kaniska, Kipas Flit and La Dominica completed the field.