Mistake made on draw for Rebel Stakes

Runners from Bob Baffert, Jerry Hollendorfer, and Richard Mandella were split equitably into the two divisions of the Grade 2, $750,000 Rebel Stakes on Saturday at Oaklawn Park when the race was drawn Wednesday, but trainer Steve Asmussen’s six entrants were not, with two in one division and four in the other, a situation Oaklawn stewards on Thursday admitted was in error.

According to Stan Bowker, one of the stewards at Oaklawn, the stewards chose not to redraw the races on Wednesday after the error was called to their attention. The overnight had yet to be published.

“Unfortunately this was not picked up until an hour – at least an hour – after the draw,” Bowker said Thursday. “It’s one of those no-win situations. We made the decision not to redraw the race. We didn’t want any unintended consequences. If you redraw, the posts are different, the competition is different, the jocks are different. Rightly or wrongly, that’s what we decided. But Asmussen should have been three and three.

“It’s one of those things. It would have been better if it would have come out the right way, but we were in a no-win situation.”

There were 19 horses entered in the Rebel. Nine ended up in the first division, 10 in the second. Bowker said horses were split by owners first, then trainers.