Rebel Lines Up Field of Nine for Saturday
Round two of Oaklawn’s three-year-old series stirs things up on Saturday with the running of the $300, 000 Rebel Stakes. Six new shooters will try their luck against the top two finishers of the Southwest Stakes in Old Fashioned (pictured) and Silver City.
As of today there will be only 51 days until the big day at Churchill Downs when the 135th Running of the Kentucky Derby will be run on the first Saturday in May. Old Fashioned currently leads the pack as the favorite on the Triple Crown trail.
The Larry Jones trainee comes into the Rebel off a dominant win in the Southwest in his last outing on February 16th. The son of Unbridled’s Song puts his undeafted record on the line in his next step towards the Kentucky Derby. Old Fashioned put in only one work since his last start, working five panels in 59.0. Regular jockey Ramon Dominguez will be in from his New York base at Aqueduct to ride. Old Fashioned drew the rail in the Rebel.
Second last time out to Old Fashioned in the Southwest, Silver City will make his case to either go two turns or return to sprints. Silver City has shown his best stride going short, but has a pedigree that shows a route is well within his scope. Also a son of Unbridled’s Song, Silver City picks up jockey Jon Court for the Rebel, and will be breaking from post eight.
Highly anticipated maiden winner Hamazing Destiny will be looking to show if he is the real deal or not. Breaking his maiden by ten and half lengths the son of Salt Lake was purchased by Westrock Stables LLC and moved to the barn of Hall of Famer trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Since being transferred Hamazing Destiny has been working forwardly for his stakes debut under jockey Terry Thompson, who has the mount in the Rebel. Hamazing Destiny will break from post position two.
The rest of the field, listed with trainer and jockey: Poltergeist, Donnie K. Von Hemel, Quincy Hamilton; Pointing Home, Charles “Scooter” Dickey, Julio Garcia; Wise Kid, Tim Ritchey, Jose Caraballo; His Greatness, Marco Salazar, Larry Sterling, Jr.; Captain Cherokee, Steve Asmussen, Luis Quinonez; Win Willy, McLean Robertson, Cliff Berry.
Carded as the tenth race on the 11 race card, the feature race will move someone another step closer to adding their name to a part of history. Post time will be 5:50 p.m. CDT.
Let It Rock Sidelined
Since smiling from ear to ear on Saturday after winning the $150,000 Razorback Handicap, trainer Judi Hicklin got news that Let It Rock (pictured) suffered a cracked cannon in his biggest win to date. While the news was unfortunate, the race garnered a Grade III win for her small barn.
“It was a little disappointing to find out, but we were so proud of how he ran,” said Hicklin by phone. “He will get some time off. Some friends have a farm in Florida where he will rehab, but in the meantime we will keep him with us at the racetrack. It could have been worse, and we consider ourselves lucky. It is the type of injury he can heal up from one hundred percent.”
“I only have eight horses at the racetrack, and to have two of them be graded stakes winners (the other being Wayzata Bay), I consider myself fortunate,” mentioned Hicklin. “There is an outside shot you might see Wayzata Bay at Oaklawn, we aren’t for sure right now. We will move to Prairie Meadows for the summer, and hopefully have Let It Rock ready for perhaps a fall campaign.”
Wayzata Bay won the Grade II Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows in 2008, and has earned $697,845 from 48 starts and 12 wins. Hicklin said they will consider their options with their barn star.
A Little Bit More
Owner Michael Langford confirmed today that a deal to sell part of Jonesboro (pictured) fell through and he will set his sights on either the Hot Springs or the Fifth Season Stakes here at Oaklawn. “We had an offer to sell him, but it didn’t work out. We might look at sprinting him so we will look at the Hot Springs Stakes or go into the Fifth Season.”
Fans can keep their fingers crossed for jockey Tim Doocy. The Oaklawn regular has come within 11 wins from his 5,000 career win as of today. Those keeping up with Doocy will note that the veteran jockey has five mounts on Friday’s card, and five on Saturday’s card.
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