HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The points plot thickens Saturday in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park. The 1 1/8-mile race led by Derby Watch members Renegade, Silent Tactic, and Litmus Test will reward its first five finishers Kentucky Derby points on a scale of 100-50-25-15-10. “Litmus Test, we got to get him there,” said trainer Bob Baffert. “We got to run first or second.” The Arkansas Derby goes as race 13 and anchors a 14-race card that begins at 11:35 a.m. It will be supported by the Grade 3, $500,000 Oaklawn Mile that drew 2024 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Full Serrano and the $200,000 Temperence Hill over 1 1/2 miles. The infield is scheduled to be open as the Racing Festival of the South continues with temperatures forecast to be in the 70s. The Arkansas Derby drew nine horses, but Napoleon Solo will be scratched and target the Wood Memorial, according to reporting by Daily Racing Form’s David Grening. Redland Rebels, who is cross-entered in the Florida Derby, will run at Oaklawn, said trainer Patrick Biancone. Blackout Time will get good support in the Arkansas Derby in his second start since October, while Bricklin enters off a third-place finish in the $500,000 Sunland Park Derby. Taptastic, a debut maiden winner for Steve Asmussen, and allowance winner Exosome are also entered, Renegade is the probable favorite Saturday. He has 25 points for the Kentucky Derby and sits 19th on the leaderboard in which the top 17 point earners in the U.S. secure a spot in the starting gate. Renegade comes into the Arkansas Derby off a significant win in the Sam F. Davis on Feb. 7 at Tampa Bay Downs. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2026: Top contenders, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more “I loved the way he finished,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He shaded six [seconds] the final sixteenth – looked like he really found his best stride the last sixteenth of a mile. I loved the way he did it. He’s come back and trained very well since then, and everything has gone according to plan so far.” The Puma, who was third to Renegade, came back to win the Tampa Bay Derby and will run Saturday in the Florida Derby. Renegade long has been ticketed for the Arkansas Derby. The son of Into Mischief races for his breeders, Robert and Lawana Low, and Repole Stable. “Robert and Lawana Low are big Oaklawn fans and the Arkansas Derby is an important race to them,” Pletcher said. “We were fortunate enough to win it with Magnum Moon a few years back and we just felt like this is the race that we’d like to point him for. Obviously it’s attractive being a Grade 1. We like the five-week spacing back to the Derby. We like the spacing from the Sam Davis to here. It just all kind of made sense to us.” Renegade is the lone horse in the field with experience at the distance of the Arkansas Derby. He closed out his 2-year-old season with a runner-up finish to Paladin in the Grade 2 Remsen going 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct. Paladin went on to win the Risen Star and is the early Kentucky Derby favorite on the DRF line set by David Aragona. “I think he’s well meant for the longer distances,” Pletcher said of Renegade. “He’s a son of Into Mischief, who’s shown he can get Derby winners, and out of a Curlin mare, so I think him staying the trip is not a concern for us.” Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount from post 6 as the 3-2 morning-line favorite. “I think he’s tactical enough you can kind of just find a comfortable spot for him,” Pletcher said. “It’s nice to have a horse like that – that has a little bit of speed if he needs to lay closer to a soft pace, but you know he also has settled well. It’s really going to be Irad’s call, where he feels like the horse is comfortable.” Pletcher is seeking his sixth win in the Arkansas Derby. Trainer Mark Casse is looking to go back to back in the race after winning it last year with Sandman. Silent Tactic carries the barn’s hopes this season. He has emerged as Oaklawn’s top 3-year-old during the course of the local series. He ran second in the Smarty Jones, won the Grade 3 Southwest, and was second by a nose in the Grade 2 Rebel in his last start March 1. “The Southwest was powerful,” Casse said. “I was impressed. When he won the Southwest you were like, ‘Whoa!’ But you wanted to see another big effort, so the Rebel was that. So, it’s nice to see him give two really excellent efforts back to back. “He’s just shown great progression. We’re just hoping that continues. If it continues, he’s going to be extremely tough on Saturday.” Silent Tactic, who will break from post 2 under regular rider Cristian Torres, is the top points earner in the Arkansas Derby field with 50. He sits a comfortable eighth on the leaderboard maintained by Churchill Downs. The move to 1 1/8 miles for the first time Saturday is a welcome one for the late-running son of Tacitus owned by John Oxley. “The way he runs, I would think the farther the better,” Casse said. “His pedigree says that as well. “Normally, the farther you go, the pace isn’t quite as hot. I thought in the Rebel, he didn’t settle quite as good as he did before, so hopefully, that will change. I think Cristian felt he was maybe a little closer than he’d like, so, we’ll see. It looks like there’s some pace in the race.” Redland Rebels is expected to be prominent from the rail, while Bricklin and Blackout Time bring speed as well. Grade 2 winner Litmus Test set the pace last out in the Rebel after his rail draw dictated tactics in the field of nine. This time around, he drew post 9. “He doesn’t want to run that way,” Baffert said of the Rebel. “He needs a target, and I took the blinkers off him. We’ll see what happens.” Francisco Arrieta, who Baffert said has worked Litmus Test, has the mount on the son of Nyquist. Litmus Test has 34 points to rank 18th on the leaderboard for the Kentucky Derby. Baffert, a five-time winner of the Arkansas Derby, said he is happy for the added ground the horse will pick up Saturday. “A mile and a sixteenth, they’re all right there,” he said. “But a mile and an eighth, that’s where they all start separating themselves.” Blackout Time was fourth in the Rebel in his first start since October. Following the race, trainer Kenny McPeek said he looked for the horse to move forward off the effort. Blackout Time established his class last season in his 2-year-old finale, when he was second to eventual champion Ted Noffey in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland. Brian Hernandez Jr. has the mount from post 3 for an ownership group that includes Arkansas resident Lance Gasaway. Bricklin’s last-race company line received a boost last weekend when Pavlovian, who won the Sunland Derby, came back to run a close second in the Louisiana Derby. Bricklin is back at Oaklawn, where he won an allowance route on the front end in January. “He’s got a natural way to place himself forward, so we’re not going to take this away,” said trainer Rodolphe Brisset. “At the same time, if somebody wants it very badly, we don’t need use him to do that, either. He can do pretty much whatever. We can play the break and do whatever he wants. “The main thing is, we are giving him a chance to qualify himself.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.