Jim Mulinix believed A Rocknroll Dance was a horse capable of attending the big dances. When the colt equaled the world record in winning his Metro Pace Elimination last weekend at Mohawk Racetrack, Mulinix’s faith was rewarded
A Rocknroll Dance, trained and co-owned by Mulinix, won his $40,400 Metro elimination by 2-3/4 lengths over Allstar Legend, in 1:49.1 on Saturday night. He paced the last quarter-mile in :26.4 to rally from third place and equal history’s fastest mile time by a two-year-old, established in 2010 by Big Jim.
It was A Rocknroll Dance’s first win in three races. He will start Saturday’s $1 million Metro Pace Final from Post 5 with driver Ron Pierce.
Mulinix purchased A Rocknroll Dance, a son of Rocknroll Hanover, for $15,000 at last November’s Standardbred Horse Sale. The colt’s mother, Wichita Hanover, is a half-sister to standout racehorse and sire Western Hanover as well as multiple stakes winner Wendy M Hanover, who is the dam of 2003 Woodrow Wilson winner Modern Art.
“I’ve been at this a long time and never had great horses, but had nice ones,” the 59-year-old Ohio native, who has a stable of 20 horses, said. “I’m getting to the age where I didn’t want to say I spent my life in the business and never tried to go with the best. I was going to buy one horse (last year); this was our shot. I only had one bullet, so I really had to do my homework at the sale.
“I looked at hundreds and hundreds of horses. I loved his breeding. I looked at him and thought I’d never be able to buy him. I kept looking at him because to me he was what I like in a racehorse. He was hanging at $12,000 and I couldn’t believe it.
“When we trained him down, you knew right away that this was one of those special ones. I’ve had some horses go in (1):50, but he just was so much better.”
Mulinix brought in a partner, Denny Miller, to help cover the staking expenses. A Rocknroll Dance qualified in 2:05 at Raceway Park and 2:00.3 at Hoosier Park before winning his final tune-up in 1:58.1 at The Meadows.
“We’ve been very careful,” Mulinix said. “When I qualified him we weren’t going there to show off. We brought him along slowly.”
A Rocknroll Dance lost his debut, a division of the Arden Downs at The Meadows, by a nose to Ideal Ike, in 1:53.1. Next up was the $317,800 Woodrow Wilson at the Meadowlands, where the colt started from post eight with driver Mike Lachance and finished eighth, beaten five lengths by Major Bombay, in 1:51.3.
“We were kind of disappointed,” Mulinix said. “He never got in the race. Then we still didn’t know if we had a horse for real or not.”
However, after talking to Lachance, the trainer felt better.
“He told me to go to the Metro,” Mulinix said. “He said to tell whoever drives him that the horse is for real. He said this horse will not embarrass us wherever we go.”
In his Metro Elimination, A Rocknroll Dance was sent off at 20-1 odds. He sat third as the favorite, Hurrikane Kingcole, set fractions of :26, :53.4 and 1:21.3 before pacing home the fastest of the nine horses in the field.
“They had those good fractions, which worked out,” Mulinix said. “He’s a good solid horses and he’s fit and pretty mature. He never has a bad day, that horse. Every day he wants to go out and play when you’re jogging him. When I jog him, he just feels good and is bouncing around. He’s just a nice horse to be around.”
Nice enough to attend Saturday’s big dance.
To view entries for Saturday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Saturday Entries – Mohawk Racetrack.
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit ustrotting.com.