Ethereal Road Pointed Towards Rebel After Latest Work

After watching Aaron Sones' Ethereal Road  work five furlongs from the gate the morning of Feb. 15 at Oaklawn Park, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said the eye-catching maiden winner earlier in the meeting will make his next start in the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds Feb. 26.

A son of Quality Road  , Ethereal Road finished seventh, fifth, and third in his first three starts before storming home to break his maiden by four widening lengths at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 29 under jockey Luis Contreras.

The performance was noteworthy because Ethereal Road hesitated and bobbled at the start, according to footnotes from the official race chart, and trailed by 16 lengths after a quarter-mile and 12 1/2 lengths after a half-mile before he began picking off rivals on the second turn.

Five-wide turning for home, Ethereal Road mowed down five horses in the final three-sixteenths of a mile to win going away at odds of 19-1. The final time over a fast track was 1:46.82. 

Lukas said he doesn't know why, under extraordinary circumstances, it finally clicked for the Ethereal Road.

"If I knew that, I would be a better trainer," Lukas said. "Man, you talk about left. He was in another area code."

Because Ethereal Road is a large horse—he stands 16.3 hands and weighs around 1,300 pounds—his poor break was magnified when compared to a smaller horse, Lukas said. 

"It takes them three-eighths of a mile to get that momentum again to get going," Lukas said. "But when they get going, if they've got ability, again, I emphasize that—they've got to have ability—when they get going, they pass horses if they've got the ability. What he did on the turn, if you just took the video ... from the half-mile (pole) to the wire, that was spectacular. Every jump he passed a horse."

Ethereal Road had his penultimate work for the Rebel Tuesday morning, covering five furlongs out of the gate in 1:01.80. 

Lukas said Contreras will ride Ethereal Road in the 1 1/16-mile Rebel, which is Oaklawn's third of four Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) points races. It figures to draw a large field, with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert scheduled to be represented by a contender or two after winning the Rebel a record eight times, including the last two runnings with Nadal in 2020 and Concert Tour  last year.

In addition to Ethereal Road, other locally based Rebel candidates include Dash Attack  for trainer Kenny McPeek, Barber Road  (John Ortiz), Ben Diesel  (Dallas Stewart), and Chasing Time  (Steve Asmussen). 

The Rebel closed Feb. 11 with 111 nominations. It offers 85 points toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby to the top four finishers (50-20-10-5). Post positions will be drawn Monday, Feb. 21.