Un Ojo ships in from Aqueduct, surges up rail, pays $152 in Rebel Stakes
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Un Ojo gave trainer Ricky Courville and jockey Ramon Vazquez their richest career victories Saturday by pulling off a 75-1 upset in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel at Oaklawn Park.
The Laoban gelding also picked up 50 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby.
Un Ojo ($152.80) forged through along the inside for a half-length win over Ethereal Road in the Rebel. It was a nose back in third to Barber Road, who finished a length and a quarter clear of fourth-place runner Kavod. Newgrange, the 4-5 favorite, pressed the pace but finished sixth Saturday.
Following the race there was an objection from the rider of Kavod against the rider of Ethereal Road for stretch interference, but the stewards made no change to the order of finish. The second- through fourth-place finishers also earned Kentucky Derby points, on a scale of 20-10-5.
Un Ojo, who lost his left eye before the start of his racing career, raced along the inside throughout while patiently guided by Vazquez. He sat in fourth off Kavod, who took the field through an opening quarter in 23.42 seconds and a half-mile in 48.86. Un Ojo advanced on the turn, joined the leaders into the stretch, seemed briefly beaten, but had more left and covered the mile and a sixteenth on a track upgraded to fast mid-card in 1:45.69.
“My phone blew up,” a traveling Courville said following the win in the Rebel.
His son, Clay, saddled the horse at Oaklawn.
“My son was crying like a baby,” Courville said. “Clay, he broke him. He galloped him. Of all the horses we broke, he kept saying all along he’s going to get it together, be the best one.”
Vazquez, who on March 5 has three stakes engagements at Santa Anita, was pleased with the trip – and Un Ojo on Saturday.
“He gave me everything he had,” Vazquez said in a post-race interview broadcast by Oaklawn.
Courville sent Un Ojo to trainer Tony Dutrow earlier this year for a New York Stallion Series stakes at Aqueduct and the horse remained in New York and ran second in the Grade 3 Withers on Feb. 5. Courville said owners Cypress Creek Equine wanted a two-turn race for Un Ojo and he was sent back to Courville for the Rebel.
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“We got him back and all’s been well,” said Courville. “It’s kind of a shared win,” with Dutrow.
Courville said plans for the horse are to be discussed, but added that before the race the general consensus with the ownership was that if Un Ojo ran well, a logical next spot would be the Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby on April 2 at Oaklawn.
Un Ojo has now won 2 of 6 starts for earnings of $776,321.
The Rebel was run on a fast track, but rains hit soon afterward and the final race on the card ended up being held on a sloppy surface. Oaklawn opened its card with a track rated good, and upgraded it to fast for the fourth race Saturday.
The Rebel was the best business day of the meet so far for Oaklawn. The track handled $15.6 million on its 12-race card from all sources. The estimated ontrack attendance was 31,000.