Ide Be Cool targets Prelude Stakes

Ide Be Cool could be on a collision course with the Grade 2, $400,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs. The reigning Louisiana-bred Horse of the Year is being pointed for the race’s local prep, the $100,000 Prelude on Aug. 2, after recently improving his career record to 7 for 7.

Ide Be Cool faced older horses for the first time in a July 13 allowance at his base of Louisiana Downs. He led throughout for a half-length win in the six-furlong race, his first start since March 1. For the score, Ide Be Cool equaled his career-best 92 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I thought it was a great effort for him,” said Ray Dunn, who owns and trains Ide Be Cool. “It was a pretty tough bunch of older horses.”

Ide Be Cool, a 3-year-old son of Ide, will be moving back to two turns for the 1 1/16-mile Prelude.

“I think he does a lot better over a route of ground,” Dunn said of the horse, whose two-turn stakes wins include the $150,000 Legacy, the $125,000 Premier Night Prince, and the $100,000 Pelican, all at Delta Downs.

The Prelude will be the first start outside the Louisiana-bred ranks for Ide Be Cool. His younger full sibling, the 2-year-old Kool Ide, will launch his career against open company in Saturday’s seventh race at Louisiana Downs. Kool Ide races for Dunn and Pedro Valdez. Chris Rosier, the regular rider on Ide Be Cool, is named to ride Kool Ide.

Texas Bling in Oklahoma

Texas Bling, who earned the best Beyer of his career, a 95, when he won the $50,000 Assault on closing night at Lone Star Park, now is based at Remington Park in Oklahoma City. Trainer Danele Durham said he is being considered for one of two stakes at the track Aug. 16: the $75,000 David M. Vance at six furlongs or the $175,000 Governor’s Cup at 1 1/8 miles. Texas Bling won the biggest race of his career at Remington in the $300,000 Springboard Mile.

In the Assault, also at a mile, Texas Bling rallied for a three-quarter-length win in 1:38.20.

“He’s training great, came out of the race excellent,” Durham said. “He’s a more aggressive horse now, wanting to train, acting more like a colt than ever before.”

The Vance is the more likely of the two spots for Texas Bling.

“I’m leaning in that direction,” Durham said. “I think in open company, I’m going to run him short, but the Governor’s Cup is still in the back of my head. The nice thing about this horse is his versatility. You can go either way with him.”

Texas Bling races for his breeder, Hall’s Family Trust.

Rebranded has options

Rebranded, a 12 1/2-length winner of the Colorado Derby, has a couple of options for his next start, according to trainer Justin Evans. He could run in either the $50,000 Charles Taylor Derby at Albuquerque on Aug. 15 or the $50,000 Ruidoso Thoroughbred Derby on Aug. 31. Evans said long-term races on the horse’s radar are the $400,000 Oklahoma Derby and the $200,000 Zia Park Derby.

Rebranded, who races for Tony Pennington, set the pace, then drew off in the $40,000 Colorado Derby at Arapahoe Park on July 13. For the effort, he earned an 85 Beyer.

“That was a wake-up performance the other day,” Evans said.

Evans said Rebranded has since returned to his base at Ruidoso. Evans has a couple of new additions to his stable, among them Grade 3 winner Called to Serve. Evans said Pennington purchased the horse at a recent Fasig-Tipton auction of horses of racing age, and he will be considered for an upcoming stakes at Albuquerque or the $100,000 Arapahoe Park Classic.

** The Texas Animal Health Commission announced that three new cases of vesicular stomatitis have been diagnosed in horses in the state. They are located in central Texas. The total number of equine cases in Texas now numbers 12, dating back to the nation’s first case this year in southern Texas on May 28.