Ed Mullinax probably would be happy if UF Rockin Dragon turns out to be a little bit like his mother.
A longtime harness racehorse owner, Mullinax campaigned UF Rockin Dragon’s dam, Up Front Dragonfly, and saw her win 28 races and earn $579,718 despite having sat out her two-year-old season. She was lightly staked, with her most lucrative victory coming in the $100,000 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship in 2005. Otherwise, her wins came in the opens and upper level conditioned classes.
“She was probably the best mare I ever had,” Mullinax said. “My trainer didn’t think much of her as a two-year-old, so she wasn’t eligible to a whole lot. She made her money the hard way.”
Less than three weeks after Up Front Dragonfly won the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes final, Mullinax watched P Forty Seven capture the $569,032 Little Brown Jug. Mullinax co-owned P Forty Seven, who defeated a field that included eventual Horse of the Year winner Rocknroll Hanover.
“That was one of the best years I ever had,” Mullinax said. “It was quite an adventure.”
Rocknroll Hanover, incidentally, is the father of UF Rockin Dragon, who faces eight rivals in Saturday’s $30,000 Bobby Weiss Series final for three and four-year-old male pacers at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.
UF Rockin Dragon, who won two of four starts in the series and never finished off the board, drew Post 1 for the final. He will be driven by Mark MacDonald for trainer Mark Ford. Getitoffyourchest, who has three wins in the series, drew Post 7 and two-time Weiss winner Somewhere With You got Post 6.
A four-year-old gelding, UF Rockin Dragon has won three of 11 races and $32,425 this season. Hampered previously by multiple ankle issues, he won just one of 17 starts combined at ages two and three.
Mullinax purchased UF Rockin Dragon under the name Uriel Hanover for $65,000. He is a half-brother to Uffizi Hanover, who won last season’s Breeders Crown for two-year-old filly pacers. Uffizi Hanover, in the stable of trainer Jimmy Takter, sold for $100,000.
“I was interested in her, but the price got me out,” Mullinax said.
UF Rockin Dragon won his first start in the Weiss Series in a lifetime-best 1:51.3, followed by a second and third. Last week, he won again, overcoming traffic trouble heading into the final turn when the horse he was following went off stride, to score in 1:51.4.
For his career, UF Rockin Dragon has won three of 11 races at Pocono Downs and finished off the board only three times.
“It’s still a dream of mine that this horse is going to be a real good one,” said the 81-year-old Mullinax, whose list of standout horses also includes million-dollar-earners Dragon Again and Whosurboy.
“He’s a pretty exciting horse. In some of his early races, he would have a quarter (mile) that was really good, but he’s going to have to do a little better going four quarters instead of just one big one. I’ve got a lot of hope. We’ll find out.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.