Spa Maidens, Presented by Keeneland: Teddy’s Rocket Completes Perfect Family-Affair MSW Mission

[Wandering Eyes]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Moments into the post-race interview Thursday, Steven Duncker took a small step back, bowed his head slightly and wiped away a tear.

For sure, Duncker was pleased to be back in the winner's circle at Saratoga Race Course but the maiden victory by Teddy's Rocket (Liam's Map) brought more than typical winning-a-race joy to the veteran owner and his partners, St. Elias Stable, Susan Karches and Vicarage Stable. There were more elements at play than just a score in the second race in the program, a $100,000 maiden special weight one-mile turf test for 2-year-olds. Plenty more.

Teddy's Rocket, named for an accomplishment by Duncker's 18-year-old son, is trained by Miguel Clement, the son of Duncker's longtime trainer, Christophe, who died of a rare cancer on May 24 at the age of 59. With a somewhat different, more aggressive trip under Hall of Fame jockey Joel Rosario than Miguel Clement figured on, Teddy's Rocket stalked the early pace set by Our Magical Moon (Good Magic). The bay colt bred by Stoneriggs Farm took the lead with three-sixteenths to run and held off Noble Dynasty by a half-length in 1:35.92.

“It's all because of the name,” Miguel Clement said as he embraced Duncker as they waited for the Teddy's Rocket to return to have his photo taken. They both laughed.

Five days earlier, Duncker, many of the same partners and Clement were celebrating an even bigger success, Deterministic's (Liam's Map) triumph in the $750,000 GI Fourstardave on Saturday. Though there is a huge difference between a Grade I and a maiden special weight, the Teddy's Rocket's victory produced a notable reaction from the people involved.

To launch the interview. Duncker pointed to Miguel Clement, stretched out his arms and bowed in an I-am-not-worthy type of tribute.

I just want to do this,” he said “Just absolutely fantastic and emotional for me. We're overjoyed. It's fantastic.”

Duncker said that Christophe Clement trained for him for bout 15 years.

“I was friends with him before that,” Duncker said. “He was a fantastic trainer. I loved having him train horses, but I considered him just such a great friend of mine anyway,

“Miguel has just done an unbelievable job. The results speak for themselves, but he's really just shown what a great horseman he is and how he can handle an unbelievably tough situation. And a huge amount of credit to Joe Migliore, who picked this horse out. This is not that expensive a horse, by the way things go here. What a joyous day.”

Migliore selected the colt, out of Autonomous by Quality Road, at the Keeneland September Sale and he was purchased for $120,000. The way he ran in training and in the final stages of race, his name–provided by Duncker's partners–made sense, though it has nothing to do with racing.

“My son built a rocket with a computer guidance system that landed the rocket like SpaceX,” Duncker said. “Because of that, someone at SpaceX saw that, and they recruited him to work at SpaceX when he was a junior in high school. Kevin Warsh and Peter Karches just wanted to name it Teddy's Rocket.”

Teddy Duncker worked for the Elon Musk company in the summer of 2024 between his junior and senior year in high school and now works for Musk's Starlink in Seattle.

“Your children go where their heart leads them and he was interested in that,” Duncker said. “When he started this rocket project, he was 12. It took four years to land it.”

Duncker said his son posted videos about his work with the rocket online, representatives of SpaceX saw them and made contact through LinkedIn.

Migliore, the bloodstock agent son of retired jockey Richard Migliore, said he reached out to Christophe Clement after he spotted the colt at the sale.

“He just walked so athletically that I was immediately drawn to him,” Migliore said. “The type of horse that I actually was expecting to make a little bit more money than we had to pay. Anytime I found a Liam's Map at the sales Christophe Clement was always my first phone call because the success that he's had with the sire. It was actually one of the last horses that I was able to buy for him. So little bit of sentimental connection there, too.

“He's always shown to be very athletic and I think he's got a big future. I think he was a little green in the stretch today, waiting for others. A horse that I knew right away when I saw him, even before I had to ring Christophe. Happy that he was able to put him put together a great ownership group, a familiar ownership group to Deterministic, who's also Liam's Map. It was a very natural fit for him to present the horse to those owners. Just happy he got it done today.”

Teddy's Rocket was the 2-1 favorite in the field of seven and paid $6.10 to give Miguel Clement his 10th win of his first season in charge of the Clement stable at Saratoga.

“Very impressive. He's got a great turn of foot,” Clement said. “The stretch was a bit long because he's idling and waiting on company. Nevertheless, I always thought he had plenty in reserve and he was very impressive.”

Rosario was never more than a couple lengths off the early pace of :24.03 and :48.00, which wasn't what Clement expected to see.

I thought he'd be a bit more patiently ridden and come up late one run,” Clement said, “but the end of the day, he rides them and he figures it out. And he's very good. You have to allow him to call an audible if he thought the pace was reasonable and he wanted to be forwardly placed.”

For Duncker, the race was gut-wrenching.

“I'm telling you, I was more nervous than Deterministic on Saturday,” he said, smiling and shaking his head. “I just was. Who knows why? Your emotions are your emotions.”

 

2nd-Saratoga, $100,000, Msw, 8-7, 2yo, 1mT, 1:35.92, fm, 1/2 length.
TEDDY'S ROCKET (c, 2, Liam's Map–Autonomous {SP}, by Quality Road), sent off the 2-1 choice in this unveiling, settled in a stalking third from his outside draw as Our Magic Moon (Good Magic) cut out initial splits of :24.03 and :48. Rail riding for much of the way, Teddy's Rocket was drawn out into the two path turning for home, overtook Our Magical Moon midstretch and had enough left to fend off Noble Dynasty (Kingman {GB}) by a half-length at the wire. SP Autonomous is also responsible for 3-year-old winner Griffin's Wharf (Constitution), a $325,000 KEESEP purchase, a yearling colt by Olympiad and a filly foal by Life Is Good. Sales history: $120,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $55,000.  Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Duncker, C. Steven, St. Elias Stable, Susan Karches and Vicarage Stable; B-Stoneriggs Farm (KY); T-Miguel Clement.

 

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