Litmus Test, Blackout Time Meet Casse Duo in Rebel

Graded stakes winner Litmus Test  battles past foe Blackout Time  in the March 1 Rebel Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park, plus a slew of 3-year-olds he has yet to face, led by local stakes winners Silent Tactic  and Strategic Risk .

The $1 million Rebel, a 1 1/16-mile dirt race, typically propels its top finishers into the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1), Oaklawn's richest stakes race, scheduled for March 28. The Rebel provides Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points on a 50-25-15-10-5 basis to its top five finishers.

Litmus Test and Blackout Time, respectively third and second behind champion Ted Noffey  in last fall's Breeders' Futurity (G1) when racing 1 1/16 miles at Keeneland, meet for a second time almost five months after chasing that classy rival. Both are unraced as 3-year-olds, though Litmus Test raced twice last year after the Breeders' Futurity, winning the Dec. 13 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) after a close fourth-place finish in the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Del Mar.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, an eight-time Rebel Stakes winner and six-time Kentucky Derby winner, gives the mount to Flavien Prat. The son of Nyquist   races for owners SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Dianne Bashor, Determined Stables, Golconda Stable, Waves Edge Capital, and Catherine Donovan.

The connections of Blackout Time had hoped to run him in the Juvenile, but he was a regulatory scratch amid tight veterinary scrutiny. Sent to the sidelines, the Not This Time   colt resumes racing Sunday after posting a series of works at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots and Oaklawn, as well as clearing protocols for removal from the vets' list, a listing of horses ineligible to start.

Lance Gasaway, who co-owns Blackout Time with BR Thoroughbreds and Magdalena Racing, said, "We're not even in the (Derby) picture right now. We've got a horse coming off a five-month layoff. That's a big ask. We'll see how good he is."

Brian Hernandez Jr. returns in the irons aboard Blackout Time for trainer Kenny McPeek, with whom he teamed to win the 2024 Kentucky Derby aboard Mystik Dan  . McPeek also runs longshot Honey's to Blame , with Manny Esquivel to ride.

Coming off a shorter layoff and without a gap in his breeze schedule, Litmus Test may hold a fitness edge over Blackout Time, though not necessarily on the locals. Silent Tactic and Strategic Risk both won stakes at Oaklawn this year, with the former taking the Feb. 6 Southwest Stakes (G3) and the latter the Jan. 3 Smarty Jones Stakes, when he defeated Silent Tactic by 4 1/2 lengths. Strategic Risk was then 10th in the Southwest.

Video: Southwest S. (G3)

Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse speculates that Strategic Risk, more so than stablemate Silent Tactic, might have been affected by missed training due to frozen racetracks that led to the postponement of the Southwest by about a week. Their Southwest jockeys are back aboard, with Cristian Torres on Silent Tactic and Javier Castellano on Strategic Risk.

Silent Tactic and Strategic Risk are the leading money earners in the field, having earned $594,422 and $417,300, respectively. The former is 2-2-0 in four races, while the latter is 3-0-1 in seven starts. Both 3-year-olds race for owner John Oxley, who won the 2001 Run for the Roses with the John Ward-trained Monarchos. 

Other horses in the Rebel with existing stakes placings in open company include Swale Stakes runner-up Class President  and Southwest Stakes second-place runner Soldier N Diplomat .

Bravaro , second behind Nearly  in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3), is cross-entered in Saturday's Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park and is expected to compete there. His scratch would leave a field of nine for the Rebel.