HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Rocket Can overcame a difficult post and subsequent wide trip to register a hard-fought, three-quarter-length victory over his Bill Mott-trained stablemate Shadow Dragon to capture Saturday’s $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park.  Cyclone Mischief finished a disappointing seventh as the 6-5 favorite in the Grade 3 fixture for 3-year-olds. The Holy Bull is the first of two important local preps for the $1 million Florida Derby on April 1 and earned the winner 20 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby.  Rocket Can also gave Mott his second major win here over the last week. The Hall of Fame trainer sent out Art Collector to upset the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational last Saturday. Rocket Can broke from the extreme outside, in post 8, and was hung wide in the short run to the first turn of the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull. With Junior Alvarado, who had guided Art Collector to his victory in the Pegasus World Cup, aboard Rocket Can was able to gain a nice striking position while three wide in the run down the backstretch. He readily overtook Legacy Isle midway on the second bend, angled out a bit wider into the stretch and had plenty left to fend off a determined bid from Shadow Dragon in the final furlong.  :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.  Shadow Dragon, sent postward at odds of 34-1 while making just his third lifetime start, quickly dropped to the rear of the field, moved strongly while widest leaving the backstretch, continued gamely despite not switching leads until midstretch, but could not get to the winner. He was easily second-best, finishing 2 1/4 lengths clear of the ground-saving West Coast Cowboy, the longest price in the field at 56-1. Legacy Isle weakened to finish another 4 1/4 lengths farther back in fourth. He was followed, in order, by Il Miracolo, Lord Miles, Cyclone Mischief and Mr Bob. Cyclone Mischief, an impressive 5 3/4-length allowance winner here four weeks ago, raced within easy striking distance while between horses, but had no response when asked for his run by jockey Tyler Gaffalione after six furlongs.   Rocket Can is a son of Into Mischief owned by Frank Fletcher Racing Operations, Inc. He completed the distance over a fast track in 1:44.97 and paid $7.20. Rocket Can was given an 82 Beyer Speed Figure. Mott said he was a little worried, but not surprised, to see Rocket Can get hung out wide during the early going. “It was a little troubling on the first turn when he was four wide, but obviously it’s a short run to the turn and he had the outside post,” Mott said. “He was four wide going into the turn and three wide coming out of it. The good part about all that is you have a clean trip. You’re running farther than anyone else, but he got a nice, clean trip and that’s probably what he needed today.” Mott also thinks distance will not be an issue with Rocket Can as he proceeds along the Derby trail. “It seems like he’s going to keep going,” Mott said. “Hopefully another sixteenth is good and another three-sixteenths is real good,” Mott said, with a laugh. “Only time will tell that.” Mott was also very pleased with the effort turned in by the lightly raced, New York-bred Shadow Dragon. “A great race for him, a horse that’s only run twice," Mott said. "He won sprinting, then was disappointing going a mile but sometimes their second race is their most difficult one. But he moved way forward today. Jose (Ortiz) said the other horse (Rocket Can) came out and kind of bothered him or he probably would have been right there. It was a good effort, a very good effort.” When asked about the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth (March 4), Mott said “I think we’d probably like to do that with at least one of them.  It makes a lot of sense.”   As for Cyclone Mischief’s disappointing performance, trainer Dale Romans said, “I don’t know what happened. He didn’t have a very good trip. He broke well, but then he was kind of in a bunch and obviously when it came time to run, he came up empty.” Gaffalione said of Cyclone Mischief’s effort, “I finally got him in a good spot going to the three-eighths, but that’s where he started making a little bit of noise, switched to his off lead and that was kind of it for today.” The most impressive performance by a 3-year-old on Saturday’s card may not have come in the main event but a couple of hours earlier, when Tapit Trice ran away to an eye-catching eight-length victory over his Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate Shesterkine in an $86,000 allowance race decided at a mile. Tapit Trice, who was ranked 20th on the first edition of Daily Racing Form’s Derby Watch poll released earlier this week, is a fashionably bred son of Tapit owned in partnership by his breeder, Gainesway Thoroughbreds, and Whisper Hill Farm. He came into the race having run third in his debut before winning his maiden at second asking with a well-graded neck victory over Slip Mahoney on Dec. 17 at Aqueduct. Both those races were also run at one mile. Tapit Trice broke a bit slow from his inside post, angled out near the middle of the track shortly thereafter, easily seized control from Shesterkin after six furlongs before drawing off impressively in the final sixteenth of a mile while ridden out to the wire by jockey Luis Saez. “He’s a colt we’re had high hopes for all along,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He improved from his first to second start and he improved again today. The exciting thing about him is the farther he goes, the better he’ll get. I kind of expected him not to break all that well today from the one-hole going a one-turn mile. But he recovered quickly, put himself in good tactical position and was impressive from there.” Pletcher said he will definitely look for a stakes next for Tapit Trice. “Everything is in play at this point and yes, the Fountain of Youth (March 4) is definitely under consideration.”  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.