Talented maiden Sonneteer takes shot in Rebel

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Preakness-winning trainer Keith Desormeaux has taken down a few stakes with maidens, among them the Summer Juvenile Championship at Los Alamitos with Swipe and the Landaluce at Santa Anita with Right There. He would love to pull off the feat again Saturday with Sonneteer in the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel at Oaklawn.

Sonneteer will enter off a runner-up finish in a Santa Anita maiden special weight race won by Kimbear, who could be headed to the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby.

Desormeaux, who won last year’s Preakness with Exaggerator, said it takes a certain kind of horse to warrant a shot in a stakes as a maiden.

“If a young horse shows some class, shows some ability, why not give him a chance?” he said. “It’s about proving a horse, and some races have a lot of influence on pedigree. There’s plenty of maidens that got beat with bad trips that maybe missed the stakes. You can’t do it with everyone, but if they show you class and ability and soundness and a stable mind ...

“He seems like he’s getting better. He’s a big, rangy, growthy 3-year-old, and I know not only from experience, but it’s just fact, that these horses change a lot this time of year, and he seems like he’s in that state. He’s run second to some real nice horses, had some interesting trips. If my calculations are correct, if he gets a good trip, I think he’ll be competitive. If he doesn’t do well, just chalk it up to me having a case of Derby Fever.”

Sonneteer, a Calumet homebred by Midnight Lute and out of the mare Ours, has run second to a pair of Grade 3 winners in Term of Art and Royal Mo. Royal Mo is set to start as a top contender in the Rebel.