Split Rebel Stakes Features Quality and Depth

With the racing at Santa Anita Park suspended and the influential San Felipe Stakes (G2) canceled, the March 16 Rebel Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park emerged as California's backup plan on the road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).

There are other options on other weekends, and some might take those routes eventually, but for now the California contingent of 3-year-olds that has won four of the last five editions of the Derby is out in force to claim a key prep.

But because of demand, Oaklawn has offered to run two heats (for $750,000 apiece instead of the planned $1 million for the single race) of its final prep for the April 13 Arkansas Derby (G1), and the California contingent has been split by trainer.

From the barn of trainer Bob Baffert, arguably the top two Kentucky Derby prospects—Game Winner and Improbable—are in separate races. Jerry Hollendorfer's talented pair of California-bred Galilean and Sham Stakes (G3) winner Gunmetal Gray are split up. And Richard Mandella's duo of grade 1-placed Extra Hope and recent maiden winner Omaha Beach will also run in separate heats.

The prevailing wisdom from horsemen, knowing they will have to contend with either a champion (Game Winner) or the buzz horse of the moment who is training like a freight train (Improbable), is "we'll find out if they fit."

"If nobody else was here other than some pony horses, I wouldn't mind racing them for $750,000," laughed Mandella, who will run his first horses at Oaklawn since 2007, when Boboman finished third in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2). "But since we're here, we might as well find out if we fit."

While the undefeated colts from the Baffert barn are both scheduled to make their 3-year-old debuts, their challengers from California could be rounding into their best efforts in their second or third starts of the season.

In the first Rebel heat, the eighth race on the Saturday card at Oaklawn, Improbable drew the outside in the field of nine, but just to his inside is the flashy Uncle Mo  colt Galilean, who aced his 2019 debut Feb. 18 in the California Cup Derby. That was against fellow California-breds, however, but for West Point Thoroughbreds CEO Terry Finley, the way the colt has acted indicates he might be more than just a standout in the Golden State. He is also getting cues from Hollendorfer.

ANGST: Galilean Easy Winner of California Cup Derby

"Last summer we sent this horse to Jerry fairly quickly when we bought him," Finley said of the colt West Point owns in partnership with Denise Barker and William Sandbrook. "Now Jerry is not one to get too excited, but (Galilean) was right up there this summer—he loved (grade 2 Best Pal Stakes winner) Instagrand, and he loved Galilean.

"With a horse like this, you're hoping you have the talent and hoping he has the heart. This horse—he acts like he wants to be somebody. Some horses have that but don't have the talent, and some horses don't have that but have the talent. But we think he has the God-given talent to be a special horse."

Mandella's entrant for the first Rebel contest is Jay Em Ess Stable homebred and recent allowance winner Extra Hope, who finished third—eight lengths behind Improbable and three lengths back of eventual Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) winner Mucho Gusto—in the Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity (G1) in December. But after a 3 1/4-length victory over a sloppy Santa Anita track Jan. 31, his connections are excited for what might be ahead.

BALAN: Improbable Gives Baffert Fifth Straight Los Al Futurity

"It will be my first trip to Oaklawn and my first horse on the Derby trail since Declan's Moon (in 2005)," said Jay Em Ess owner Samantha Siegel. "It's a long road to get here, and to do it with a homebred with only six foals a year, it means a lot. We were going to run last weekend (in the San Felipe) against both of Bob's colts, just to see where we fit in the scheme of things, so now we only have to face one."

The final California-based entrant in the first Rebel is Calumet Farm's Easy Shot, who finished third in the Lewis last time out, but the key local is one of two from the barn of Steve Asmussen (he has four in the second leg). Willis Horton Racing's Long Range Toddy is the top finisher returning from the Feb. 18 Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn. The Take Charge Indy colt finished third in the Southwest after a troubled trip and previously finished second in the Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 25. He won back-to-back stakes at Remington Park to close his 2-year-old season.

The second flight of the Rebel—the 10th race on the 11-race card—is clearly headlined by Gary and Mary West's Game Winner (the Wests also have maiden Proud Nation in the first Rebel). The champion 2-year-old male of 2018 has been flawless in four starts, which include three consecutive top-level scores—the Del Mar Futurity (G1), American Pharoah Stakes (G1), and the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1)—for Baffert, but the rest of the nine-horse field has notable challengers.

From the group of Californians, Gunmetal Gray—owned in partnership by West Point, Pearl Racing, and Hollendorfer—finished second and fifth, respectively, in the American Pharoah and Juvenile before two quality starts in graded stakes this season, and Fox Hill Farm's Omaha Beach has run up against ample quality in the maiden special weight ranks prior to his nine-length romp in the slop at Santa Anita Feb. 2 to break through for his first victory. Reddam Racing's Parsimony is the only maiden in the second Rebel group but has finished second in four of his seven starts.

BALAN: Gunmetal Gray Closes From Last to Take Sham Stakes

Asmussen-trained locals Captain Von Trapp and Laughing Fox both enter the Rebel off back-to-back wins over the Oaklawn dirt, and the other two—Kaziranga and Jersey Agenda—are coming off troubled trips in their last starts.

But while so much has been made of the horses coming from the West, the main challenge to Game Winner may come from the other direction.

"I was kinda hoping nobody would notice and we'd slip in there," joked Mark Casse, trainer of Gary Barber's Our Braintrust, who was privately purchased early in the year after he finished second in the Jerome Stakes, then stretched out to two turns for the first time in the Feb. 2 Withers Stakes (G3).

The Maryland-bred Freud  colt really hasn't run a poor race in his career. He won his debut at Laurel Park in May for trainer Cal Lynch, then took the Tremont Stakes at Belmont Park in June and finished second in the Maryland Juvenile Futurity and the Jerome, where he was defeated by Hopeful Stakes (G1) winner and Gotham Stakes (G3) runner-up Mind Control.

In the Withers, he got a quality stalking trip through much of the race but bumped in upper stretch with pacesetter and eventual second-place finisher Not That Brady, and Tax scooted up the rail to win by a head. Our Braintrust came in a neck behind Not That Brady, with a fair chance to get by for much of the stretch run, but Casse thinks he may have found a solution for that with the addition of blinkers.

"It was an interesting race," Casse said. "He got bumped pretty good down the lane, and, more importantly, it was the first time we ran him and the first time around two turns. Distance is definitely not going to be a problem.

"But if you watch him (in the Withers), (jockey) Jose (Lezcano) said he moved up like he was just going to run by the horses but kinda laid on them. Then he took off again after the wire. When we brought him back to Ocala (to train), I breezed him behind horses and he ran up and laid on them. The last time I breezed him in blinkers, and it went much better. You're always looking for a little something extra."

But maybe the most important aspect to Our Braintrust's chances in the Rebel is intent. The race isn't a backup plan for the colt like it might be for others.

"I can tell you one thing," Casse said. "This was our Plan A."

Entries: Rebel S. (G2)

Oaklawn Park, Saturday, March 16, 2019, Race 8

• Grade II
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $750,000
• 3 yo
• 4:57 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Extra Hope (KY)	Mike E. Smith	117	Richard E. Mandella	6/1
2	2Long Range Toddy (KY)	Jon Kenton Court	119	Steven M. Asmussen	10/1
3	3Corruze (KY)	Stewart Elliott	117	Chris A. Hartman	30/1
4	4Easy Shot (KY)	Richard E. Eramia	117	J. Keith Desormeaux	15/1
5	5Proud Nation (KY)	David Cabrera	117	Joe Sharp	50/1
6	6Ninth Street (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	117	Steven M. Asmussen	50/1
7	7Classy John (LA)	David Cohen	117	Dallas Stewart	15/1
8	8Galilean (CA)	Flavien Prat	122	Jerry Hollendorfer	3/1
9	9Improbable (KY)	Drayden Van Dyke	119	Bob Baffert	3/5

Entries: Rebel S. (G2)

Oaklawn Park, Saturday, March 16, 2019, Race 10

• Grade II
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $750,000
• 3 yo
• 6:06 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Market King (KY)	John R. Velazquez	117	D. Wayne Lukas	30/1
2	2Laughing Fox (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	119	Steven M. Asmussen	10/1
3	3Parsimony (PA)	Mario Gutierrez	117	Doug F. O'Neill	30/1
4	4Jersey Agenda (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	117	Steven M. Asmussen	15/1
5	5Game Winner (KY)	Joel Rosario	119	Bob Baffert	4/5
6	6Omaha Beach (KY)	Mike E. Smith	117	Richard E. Mandella	7/2
7	7Our Braintrust (MD)	David Cohen	117	Mark E. Casse	6/1
8	8Gunmetal Gray (KY)	Flavien Prat	122	Jerry Hollendorfer	10/1
9	9Kaziranga (KY)	Richard E. Eramia	117	Steven M. Asmussen	50/1
10	10Captain Von Trapp (KY)	Ramon A. Vazquez	119	Steven M. Asmussen	15/1