Rebel favorites looking for first two-turn wins

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Timberlake is the undisputed class of the $1.25 million Rebel on Saturday as a Grade 1 winner, but like fellow Derby Watch member Just Steel, he has questions to answer in the 1 1/16-mile race at Oaklawn Park.

The horses are expected to start as the top two choices in the 13-horse Rebel, a Grade 2 fixture that offers its first five finishers Kentucky Derby points on a scale of 50-25-15-10-5. The Rebel is showcased on a 12-race card that includes three other stakes. Oaklawn plans to open its infield on an afternoon projected to be sunny and 70 degrees. First post is noon Central.

Timberlake won the Grade 1 Champagne last October. The one-turn mile sent him to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita, where he finished fourth to eventual champion Fierceness. Trainer Brad Cox said Timberlake was freshened after the race.

In the Rebel, he will be seeking to win off a near four-month layoff, and he will attempt to nail down his first win at two turns.

“I think he can handle two turns,” Cox said. “I think the mile and sixteenth is something that’s definitely in his wheelhouse. I feel very confident that we have him ready, especially based on his last two moves. His last two works have been very, very good at the Fair Grounds.

“He’s had a great week. He’s come out of all these works in great shape. I think he’s set up for a good race.”

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Timberlake worked five furlongs in a bullet 59.40 seconds Feb. 10 at Fair Grounds and came back and went the same distance in 1:00.20 on Feb. 16. He will break from post 7 under Oaklawn’s leading rider, Cristian Torres, who has the mount for WinStar Farm.

“I think we’ve got to get away well, get a good position, and he should make a good account of himself,” said Cox.

Just Steel is also looking for his first two-turn win. He’s run second in the first two Kentucky Derby preps of the meet, the Smarty Jones on Jan. 1 and the Grade 3 Southwest on Feb. 3.

Just Steel has a pedigree for two turns, as well as the physical attributes to cover a route of ground. The same can be said of Timberlake, a son of Into Mischief.

“He’s a really, really good-looking horse,” Cox said of Timberlake. “He’s a serious physical.”

Just Steel is by Triple Crown winner Justify and stands about 17 hands tall, according to his trainer, D. Wayne Lukas.

“He’s by the hottest young sire in the country, that’s in his favor,” Lukas said. “And he’s just a big, grand-looking horse that I really loved as a yearling, and he’s coming around.

“I’m hoping I can move him forward and keep him moving forward. Nothing would make me prouder to get [BC Stables] into the Derby and have a chance in the Derby.”

Ramon Vazquez has the mount from post 11.

“That’s a pretty good handicap,” Lukas said of the post, noting he also felt for the connections of Woodcourt, who starts from post 12, and Time for Truth (13).

Trainer Kenny McPeek will saddle Northern Flame and Common Defense. The former comes off a neck win in a Jan. 28 allowance here. He set a pressured pace in the mile race run on a good track to edge Rebel starter Mena, a full brother to 2021 Arkansas Derby runner-up Caddo River.

“He showed a lot of fight,” McPeek said of Northern Flame. “I thought he ran super – when the other horse looked him in the eye, he kept going. I suspect we might let him run early this week, too.”

Julien Leparoux has the mount from post 4.

Common Defense will start from post 3 under Brian Hernandez Jr. The horse was fifth last out in the Southwest, one start after winning a maiden special weight route at Oaklawn.

“I don’t think he liked the off track in the Southwest,” McPeek said. “I’m hoping for a dry track for him. He’s worked super at Fair Grounds and we decided to put him in and give him another chance.”

Tejon Pass brings some graded stakes credentials into the Rebel as he was third behind Nysos and Stronghold in the Grade 3 Bob Hope in November at Del Mar. Tejon Pass made his two-turn debut in a local allowance prep for the Rebel and was a troubled fifth as the favorite Jan. 28.

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“We felt like he probably might have been the best horse last time,” said trainer Peter Miller. “He broke slow and rushed up and was inside, outside and only got beat a couple of lengths.

“He’s a talented colt and it’s just a matter of whether he wants to run this far, with this company.”

Chris Landeros has the mount from post 4.

Oaklawn’s leading trainer, Steve Asmussen, will send out allowance winners Carbone and Lagynos, and promising maiden winner Dimatic.

Magic Grant won his maiden in the Clever Trevor in October at Remington Park. Next Level was Grade 1-placed last September in the Del Mar Futurity.

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