Cherry Wine targets Rebel Stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Cherry Wine, who missed an opportunity to compete for Kentucky Derby qualifying points when coming down with a slight temperature days before the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, will get that chance March 19 at Oaklawn Park in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes, trainer Dale Romans said on Monday.

Cherry Wine is a son of Paddy O’Prado who Romans believes will get better the farther he goes. Cherry Wine has won his last two starts, both at 1 1/16 miles, by a combined 15 1/4 lengths, including a first-level allowance race here Jan. 9.

“If I had one more day after he got sick, I could have run him in the Fountain of Youth, but you just don’t want to take that kind of chance with a horse like this,” Romans said. “The Rebel looks like the best spot to try him since it will also give us a chance to bring him back for one more race before the Derby.”

Cherry Wine, with regular rider Corey Lanerie aboard, looked sharp while breezing five furlongs from the half-mile pole in 1:00.43 here Saturday.
Romans also said that Keen Ice came back well after his disappointing seventh-place finish in Round 3 of the Al Maktoum Challenge on Saturday at Meydan in Dubai.

“He’s doing a lot better than I am,” said Romans, who was hospitalized with the flu while in Dubai and returned to the United States on Monday. “It was a very oddly run race. The whole pace scenario was funny. They went so slow early and came home fast, and that’s just not his style. Hopefully, there will be more pace in the World Cup with the other U.S. horses in there. We’re still trying to figure out what happened, but that’s the obvious thing to me.”