Five Star Factor looks to continue strong meet in optional claimer

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A daughter of a Rebel Stakes winner will attempt to open Rebel week with a win in the featured eighth race Thursday at Oaklawn. Five Star Factor should go favored in an optional $62,500 claiming route for 3-year-old fillies at the same 1 1/16-mile distance at which her sire, The Factor, won the Rebel in 2011.

Oaklawn will renew the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel on Saturday, and the race will be supported by the Azeri and Essex in one of the biggest programs of the season at Oaklawn.

The feature Thursday drew 11 fillies, including Conquest Bandido, who is making her third start off a layoff; Sully’s Dream, who last year faced graded stakes rivals in Kentucky; and Dial Me, who goes for the Churchill Downs Racing Club and trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

Five Star Factor will be picking up a bit more ground after running second at a mile Feb. 12.

“We’re thinking that will be to her advantage,” trainer Ron Moquett said. “We like the way she’s training, and she certainly leads you to believe she’ll like the added distance.”

Race 8

KEY CONTENDERS

Five Star Factor, by The Factor
Last 3 Beyers: 79-63-67

◗ She is having a productive meet at Oaklawn. She is coming off a runner-up finish against similar and before that race was third to Chanel’s Legacy in the $125,000 Dixie Belle. Moquett said Five Star Factor had been considered for another local stakes, but Thursday’s $74,000 purse was plenty attractive.

“We were between this and the Honeybee,” said Moquett, who trains Five Star Factor for Triton Thoroughbreds and Black Ridge Stables. “We thought the purses are so good at Oaklawn, this race is more than a stakes at some places.”

◗ Five Star Factor will break from post 4 under Ricardo Santana Jr.

“So far, she’s been very versatile,” Moquett said. “She’s got enough tactical speed to get in good position, and then she has a kick.”

Conquest Bandido, by Into Mischief
Last 3 Beyers: 71-70-66

◗ She exits the same race as Five Star Factor and closed for fourth as the favorite. One start prior, she finished second at this level Jan. 20 at Oaklawn.

◗ Conquest Bandido is a half-sister to Hey Byrn, a past winner of the Grade 3 Holy Bull at Gulfstream.

◗ Channing Hill has the mount from post 5 for trainer Wayne Catalano.