HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A double Rebel?

Oaklawn Park split its Grade 2, $1 million Rebel into two $750,000 divisions last year in a move that helped accommodate Southern California-based horsemen when racing at Santa Anita was temporarily suspended the week of the Grade 2 San Felipe.

This year, it remains to be seen whether Oaklawn will split the Rebel, which runs on March 14, but the track is open to running two divisions of the points race for the Kentucky Derby, said Jed Doro, vice president of racing for Oaklawn.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Despite the relative ease with which Mischevious Alex won the Grade 3 Swale Stakes last month at Gulfstream Park, his connections did not start booking rooms in Louisville for the first Saturday in May.

Trainer John Servis, who won the 2004 Kentucky Derby with Smarty Jones, doesn’t necessarily view Mischevious Alex as a horse who wants 1 1/4 miles.

“Looking at his pedigree and the way he’s made, you certainly question that,” Servis said of Mischevious Alex, a son of Into Mischief out of the Speightstown mare White Pants Night.

ARCADIA, Calif. – American Theorem, unraced since a second-place finish in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita last September, will have his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 14.

Trainer George Papaprodromou said on Wednesday that he considered starting American Theorem in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita, but wanted to wait an additional week.

“I wanted to give him one more work,” Papaprodromou said. “I want to make sure he’s 100 percent.”

WHO’S HOT

Two newcomers – Charlatan and Major Fed – and a returnee – Three Technique – are the fresh names on this week’s Derby Watch top 20 list. Charlatan is 15-1 on the future line set by Marty McGee of Daily Racing Form for the Kentucky Derby on May 2 at Churchill Downs. Both Major Fed and Three Technique are 50-1. Ete Indien is now the co-third choice on McGee’s line at 8-1, tumbling sharply from last week’s 50-1, following his runaway victory in the Fountain of Youth.

Two months out from the Kentucky Derby on May 2, no trainer holds a stronger hand with 3-year-olds than does Bob Baffert, who has four members of the Derby Watch top 20, two of whom are scheduled to run Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita, with at least one more scheduled to run the following Saturday in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel at Oaklawn.

Authentic
Into Mischief – Flawless, by Mr. Greeley
Bred in Kentucky by Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds ($350,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by SF Bloodstock/Starlight West)

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Todd Pletcher has won the Tampa Bay Derby a record five times, but he doesn’t want to hear it.

“I’ve lost it more than that,” he deadpanned.

True, but c’mon. Pletcher will take a shot at extending his record to six when he sends out three starters here Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs in what was expected to be a capacity field of 12 3-year-olds for the 40th running of the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby. Eighty-five qualifying points (50-20-10-5) toward the May 2 Kentucky Derby are at stake.

Breeder and consignor Gerry Dilger, known for his involvement with Kentucky Derby winners Nyquist and Always Dreaming, has died at age 61 following recent cardiac troubles.

Dilger, a native of County Clare, Ireland, came to the U.S. in 1978, and owned and operated Dromoland Farm in Kentucky. He and pinhooking partners Ted Campion and Pat Costello purchased Nyquist for $180,000 as a Keeneland November weanling and continued to raise the colt at Dromoland.

Nine new names are in the lineup for Pool 3 of the 2020 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens at noon Eastern on Friday for the customary three-day run.

Pool 3 coincides with the only futures pool toward the 2020 Kentucky Oaks, with an Oaks-Derby double future wager being offered for the third year.

A quiet Wednesday at Kempton Park in England could help determine a Kentucky Derby starter.

Kempton hosts the Kentucky Derby Conditions Stakes on Wednesday, the penultimate race in the European Road to the Kentucky Derby. Five were entered, none of whom are among the leaders so far in the European Road to the Kentucky Derby, which concludes with the Cardinal Conditions Stakes on April 2 at Chelmsford City.