Rebel Red to make first start since losing an eye
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When Rebel Red runs in the $150,000 Bernard Baruch Stakes on Sunday he will be making his first start since losing his left eye in a stall accident.
There have been some horses who have run well in their careers with just one eye, such as Pollard’s Vision, Patch, and Un Ojo.
“Horses that I know of always ran without an eye and they adjusted to it,” trainer Cherie DeVaux said. “This is a little bit different because he had run with full vision in both eyes. This is a significant change.
“He seems to have adapted well on the track. It’s not affected him while he’s galloping. Nothing has gotten him stirred up, but this is a race situation.”
Prior to the accident, Rebel Red had won two straight races, including an allowance win here on July 13. DeVaux had thought about stretching Rebel Red out in distance and stepping him up in class to a race like the Arlington Million.
“This has caused us to take a step back,” DeVaux said. “We’re trying to see how he handles this new life change.”
DeVaux’s other Bernard Baruch starter, Taking Candy, is coming off a second-level allowance win in his first start off a 10-month layoff. He raced twice at the 2023 Saratoga meet, winning an allowance race and finishing second to Carl Spackler in the Grade 3 Saranac.
Others entered in the Bernard Baruch, a 1 1/16-mile turf race, include Beuys, Fort Washington, Pioneering Spirit, Running Bee, and Steady On.
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