Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel Stakes; 1 1/16 miles; Oaklawn Park; March 17, 2018
(50 Derby qualifying points for a win, 20 for second, 10 for third, 5 for fourth)
Winner: Magnum Moon, by Malibu Moon
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: Luis Saez
Owner: Robert and Lawana Low
Beyer Speed Figure: 97
The first and only starter trainer Keith Desormeaux will have at this Fair Grounds meet comes in the most important race of the meet.
My Boy Jack is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in Saturday’s $1 million Louisiana Derby. The colt was to ship Tuesday morning from California. His trainer has made a much deeper journey since he called New Orleans home every winter.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has confirmed what already had been suspected, that Grade 3 Withers winner Avery Island is now officially off the Derby trail after returning lame from a routine workout at Palm Meadows last Friday.
McLaughlin sent Avery Island to Rood and Riddle Clinic in Kentucky for further evaluation earlier this week.
Trainer Doug O’Neill was awake but dreaming early Sunday morning, a day after his trainee, Blended Citizen, registered a neck victory in Turfway Park’s Grade 3, $200,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks, a Kentucky Derby prep race.
“We’re getting that Derby dream, of course,” he said from phone from his Santa Anita base. “He always worked phenomenal on the dirt, but his best races have been turf or synthetic. So naturally we’re wondering, can he be the next Animal Kingdom?”
Most people who have even a casual acquaintance with Kentucky Derby history know that the last horse to win the Derby without having raced at 2 was Apollo in 1882.
But that 136-year streak is under a serious double-barreled threat this year. One gunning to end this run is Justify, the brilliant Southern California-based colt who debuted Feb. 18 and was most impressive winning an allowance at Santa Anita last week to make it two triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure scores in as many starts.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Magnum Moon burst onto the Kentucky Derby scene Saturday at Oaklawn, where he picked up 50 points for the classic by darting to a 3 1/2-length win over favorite Solomini in the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel. It was Magnum Moon’s third victory in as many starts, as well as his stakes debut.
“I’m very, very excited with the way he ran,” said Todd Pletcher, who trains Magnum Moon.
McKinzie will remain at Santa Anita for the Santa Anita Derby on April 7, while Justify will go to Oaklawn for the Arkansas Derby on April 14, trainer Bob Baffert said Friday.
Baffert is known to call audibles, but on Friday he said “as of today” that was the plan with his two highly regarded Kentucky Derby prospects.
McKinzie was disqualified from victory in the San Felipe Stakes on March 10 in favor of Bolt d’Oro. The Santa Anita Derby thus sets up as a rematch between those two, since Bolt d’Oro is also intended for the Santa Anita Derby.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The meeting of Solomini and Magnum Moon on neutral ground in the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel on Saturday at Oaklawn has the look of a key matchup seven weeks out from the Kentucky Derby. In what might be a telltale sign, there were no other shippers from the West Coast – Solomini’s base – or the East Coast, which is home to Magnum Moon.
Analyzed as a prep race for the Kentucky Derby, Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks on Polytrack at Turfway Park is a secondary affair, overshadowed by more lucrative dirt stakes. But viewed from the perspective of a bettor, there is nothing second rate about the Jeff Ruby.
The 1 1/8-mile race – formerly called the Spiral – drew 12 entrants and is so evenly matched that the six shortest prices on the morning line range from 5-1 to 6-1.
Greyvitos is not part of some racehorse witness protection program. It only seems that way.
From the moment he sparked interest last November while winning the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar, defeating a field that included Mourinho and Run Away, Greyvitos had the look of a colt with a future. What kind of future was unclear, but it figured to be an interesting ride.
