It's been a long road for Chorleywood winner Rebel Red
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The 5-year-old horse Rebel Red has been through some stuff. He lost an eye in a stall accident last summer at Saratoga. He clipped heels and fell during the Louisville Stakes last month. Yet Rebel Red has come through it all better than ever – on the Beyer Speed Figure scale, at least.
Rebel Red won his first stakes race June 14 at Churchill Downs when he rolled down the center of the turf course under Jose Ortiz to capture the $170,000 Chorleywood by two lengths. His 100 Beyer marked a career top and came one month after Rebel Red hit the ground during the running of the Louisville.
“It was just kind of one of those emotional wins. He’s shown a lot of talent and ability and obviously has been through a lot,” said Cherie DeVaux, who trains Rebel Red, a son of Frankel, for John Gunther and Eurowest Bloodstock. “We were pretty cautious after his last race making sure he wasn’t injured at all. He just had a couple minor scrapes. Mentally, it didn’t seem to bother him at all.”
Rebel Red won an allowance race at Saratoga last summer and could return there for his next start. DeVaux said there are “a lot of races on the table” for Rebel Red, who began his career in England, won his first race over 1 1/16 miles, and easily stayed 1 3/8 miles in the Chorleywood.
DeVaux has several Churchill stakes starters training at Keeneland. Vahva starts Saturday, her second race of the year, in the Grade 2 Chicago Stakes. Brilliant Berti, beaten a neck last out in the Arlington Stakes, runs June 28 in the Wise Dan. Reagan’s Wit, a 3 1/2-length victor of the James Murphy last month at Pimlico, goes in the American Derby, also on June 28, and Retribution, hero of the Chick Lang at Pimlico, starts in the Maxfield Stakes on June 29, closing day of the spring meet.
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