by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — He always felt RT Sun Poco possessed enough ability to be competitive in pari-mutuel races, but Robert Rougeaux III surmised there were some critics who believed the mare would never be successful outside the Pennsylvania Fair Circuit.

“She was unstoppable at the fairs and she was real good on a half mile track,” the 4-year-old mare’s co-owner/trainer/driver said. “I knew there was something there with her, but I didn’t know how much. I was setting track records with her at the fairs, but I didn’t know if a big track would help her. I think there were other people that were skeptical about it, but I don’t think I’ve seen the top end of her yet. She trotted home in (1):57 flat last week and won the (Double Trouble) final; I never drew the whip.”

The daughter of Yankee Paco-Sunfest, who was unraced at two due to some soreness issues in her hind end, dominated the fairs as a sophomore with a slate of 14-12-1-0, while earning more than $14,000. From eight miles this year she has six victories with one second place finish. RT Sun Poco has already earned more than $47,000 this year, has competed exclusively at The Meadows and lowered her lifetime mark to 1:57f.

Chris Gooden photo

RT Sun Poco posted a 1:57 triumph in the final of the Double Trouble series.

Owned by Brocious Racing Stable of Marion Center, Pa., the mare is a half sister to RT Picaadilly (Ebanks), who won a Pennsylvania Sire Stake and collected more than $42,000 in purse money as a freshman, as well as a promising yearling who is a full brother to RT Picaadilly and a good-looking foal dropped several days ago. Their dam was purchased in foal (with RT Sun Poco) for $3,000 at the Harrisburg sale in 2005 by Rougeaux’s late grandfather, Harold Brocious, who was Pennsylvania’s 2007 Small Breeder of the Year, and was a perennial force on the fair circuit.

“I was scratching my head when he came home with three mares, one Kentucky-bred, one Canadian-bred and one Pennsylvania-bred, but he bought all of them for under $9,000 and all their foals raced,” Rougeaux said. “I can’t believe we got this mare (Sunfest) for that price, but I think some people shied away because she was a Canadian-bred and Yankee Paco was standing in Canada. She’s a broodmare machine and sometimes you just don’t know what will happen.”

Rougeaux admits the mare needed the experience on the fair circuit before she could step up in class and thinks some equipment alterations definitely aided the mare in finding her best stride.

“When I raced her at the fairs, she was fine with just two headpoles on her, a regular blind bride and trotting boots, but when I brought her down to The Meadows there weren’t any horses I wanted to sit behind, so I was rolling her out of the gate every week,” the 25-year-old Rochester Mills resident explained. “She thought that was standard issue and then one night she got hot behind the gate and made a break, so I put a hood on her and she won the race. The next week Dave Palone pulled down the stretch and came home just enough where she couldn’t hear him. He beat me on the wire, so I put earplugs on her for the final.”

For the time being, it looks like RT Sun Poco will remain in the same class, but if the condition book is favorable at Yonkers or Pocono, Rogeaux will drop her name in the box.

“I don’t think I can cut a mile with her in (1):55, but I think if I would sit in the hole and follow a good horse to the quarter pole, I would have a bunch of speed for sure,” he said. “I have her in this Friday in a non-winners of $18,000, which is pretty much the Filly and Mare Open, because the Opens have not been filling here. We don’t fit into the early closers at a lot of different tracks, unless they are Opens and I don’t know if she is quite that caliber yet. The competition is definitely stiffer competition on Friday, so we will see how that goes, but eventually I would like to get her in a Kant-C-Bak bridle without the earplugs, but I guess it is just one step at a time.”