Locally-owned thoroughbred ready to Rock Your World -- again

May 7—Rock Your World may have had his world rocked a bit last week, but the locally-owned 3-year-old colt plans to return to the racetrack, albeit after a short layoff.

The thoroughbred, co-owned by Kern County natives Kosta and Peter Hronis — Hronis Racing, LLC — finished 17th in a 19-horse field at last week's 147th Kentucky Derby.

But after returning to its home stable at Santa Anita Racetrack — and licking his wounds after finished 24 lengths behind race winner Medina Spirit — team Hronis has opted to skip next week's Preakness Stakes and will turn its focus to the final jewel of the triple crown, the Belmont Stakes, on June 5 in Elmont, N.Y.

"We think that mile-and-a-half is right up his alley, so hopefully we'll catch a little racing luck this time, and we'll give it another shot," Kosta Hronis said. "As long as he works out well, that's the plan."

Rock Your World, who entered the Kentucky Derby as one of the favorites at 9-2 odds, was bumped by two horses shortly after exiting the starting gate, recovered, but then was bumped again and faded from contention.

"I let the trainer make the final decision," said Hronis of the plan to skip the Preakness. "He had a few little cuts on his legs and stuff from the other horses when they ran into each other, but everything was kind of superficial. So no injuries of any kind, so he came out of the race good. After that first turn when he got that next bump he kind of quit. So he was done at that point."

The horse returned to California on Sunday, received a full checkup and has started his training routine, Hronis said.

"It was a fun experience to be in the Derby," Hronis said. "I wish we had done better. If I have anything (to add), it's just that I'm looking forward to going back and kind of redeem ourselves. Because we could have done so much better. You know we had the second favorite so I wish we had a chance to run. I don't mind losing, but I just want to have a chance to run around the track. We're going to look forward to the next Derby. Hopefully we'll sneak in there again soon."

Starting the Kentucky Derby in gate 15 to the right of race favorite Essential Quality, which wound up placing fourth, Rock Your World was slow to exit the gate and wound up being wedged between two horses as part of a domino effect. No. 18 Super Stock, which started in gate 17, began to veer to his left, and forced No. 17 Highly Motivated into Rock Your World's path just seconds into the race. The two horses converged with Essential Quality, and Rock Your World stumbled a bit while retreating a few steps back.

"When the gates opened, I mean you can see, there's a photograph, the other horses are halfway out before he even started out," Hronis said. "So he was already a half a length back. So I think when those horses break like they do, and we break slow, for them to move over — they didn't see anybody next to them — because he was half a length back.

"So it's just one of those things, if you don't break good, and you're not in the mix, if the other horses don't see anything between them, they're naturally going to take up that space. Unfortunately, we were in that space and that's when we got hit. That's just horse racing though. He's gotta break a little better to get clear of the traffic. He just didn't do it."

Rock Your World seemed to have recovered and moved toward the top 10 on the outside, but there was contact again with another horse to his right.

"Whether that was all the hoopla that went along with (the race) or the over 40,000 people that were hoopin' and hollerin' and stuff, I don't know. I've tried to interview him and he doesn't talk back," Hronis said with a laugh.

Although still four weeks away, Hronis added that he isn't sure if Rock Your World will have the same jockey aboard for the Belmont. Joel Rosario, who rode Orb to victory in the 2013 Kentucky Derby and was at the controls for Rock Your World last week, will be on Japanese entry France Go De Ina for the Preakness and may not be available for Hronis next month.

"It's to be determined," Hronis said. "It's just one of those things. We'll see. Rosario is riding in the Preakness so it's going to depend on how that horse does whether he stays on or whether he's available. So we'll just kind of play that by ear."

In either case, Hronis is confident that Rock Your World will fare better in the Belmont, which historically has a smaller field, and competes at a mile-and-a-half track, a quarter-mile longer than the Kentucky Derby.

"There's not a lot of 3-year-olds with the pedigree to run that kind of distance," Hronis said. "So we'll see. We'll have some more of the Derby horses skipping the Preakness will probably come back. We're still kind of a fresh horse. We've only had four races."

The immediate plan is to amp up Rock Your World's training for the next three weeks, with his final workout on May 29. If the horse still looks strong the following day, the Hronis' plan to fly Rock Your World to New York that night.

"He's back on the racetrack and he'll workout ... (the Belmont) it's four weeks away, so he'll put in three weeks of work and so long as he shows he belongs, we're going to send him and give him another shot," Hronis said. "I think he deserves it."