Casse brings hot hand to Rebel

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Mark Casse has had a hot hand with 3-year-olds this meet at Oaklawn Park, and he’ll attempt to add to his local stakes success Saturday with Our Braintrust in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel.

Casse has won two-thirds of the local series for 3-year-old fillies this meet, courtesy of Power Gal, who captured the Martha Washington in February, and Chocolate Kisses, who won the Grade 3, $200,000 Honeybee here Saturday.

Our Braintrust was to arrive Tuesday for the Rebel, a 1 1/16-mile race that serves as the final local prep for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby. He was a private purchase in January and in his first start for Gary Barber and Casse he ran third by a neck in the Grade 3 Withers on Feb. 2 at Aqueduct.

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“We feel ultimately that his best races will be on the grass,” Casse said, “but right now he’s running pretty darn good on the dirt and we’ll continue doing that until he proves otherwise.”

Our Braintrust earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 95 in the Withers, which will rank as one of the best last-race numbers in the Rebel. The race could be spilt into a pair of $750,000 divisions if 20 or more horses are entered. Splitting the race became a possibility over the weekend after a number of runners from Southern California committed to the Rebel following the cancellation of the San Felipe at Santa Anita, among them champion Game Winner.

Casse said Monday a few options were debated for Our Braintrust before landing on the Rebel.

“His race in the Withers was exceedingly good,” Casse said, noting it was the two-turn debut for Our Braintrust. “He’s got some speed, and we just thought this would be a nice place to run him. I just thought, ‘We’ll go after the big money.’

“When we made the decision, we didn’t know half of California was coming!”

Casse, who has a division of horses at Oaklawn, said David Cohen has the mount in the Rebel.

In other Rebel developments, the California-bred Galilean put in his final work for the race Monday at Los Alamitos. He went a half-mile in 48.80 seconds. The winner of the $188,000 California Cup Derby on Feb. 18 at Santa Anita will be making his first start against open company in the Rebel.

Others expected from California include Extra Hope, Gunmetal Gray, Improbable, and Omaha Beach. Trainer Doug O’Neill said Friday he planned to send Parsimony for the Rebel, while Oaklawn officials expected the flight that was due here Wednesday to include Easy Shot.

Oaklawn-based horses pointing to the Rebel include Long Range Toddy, Jersey Agenda, Laughing Fox, and Market King, according to their trainers. The next-race plans for Comedian, who won a maiden route at Oaklawn with a Beyer Speed Figure of 79, were still being formulated as of Friday, according to a spokeswoman for majority owner Bloom Racing Stable.

Additional horses for the Rebel were expected on Tuesday from Florida, led by Our Braintrust.

Entries were to be taken Wednesday. The maximum gate is 14.

– additional reporting by Steve Andersen, Jay Privman