HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The most recent prep for the Kentucky Derby yielded a 75-1 winner when Un Ojo won the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park last Saturday.
A similar result Saturday in the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park would be far-fetched, but with an expected full gate of 12, there will be some real longshots in the field, if only by mathematical necessity.
Straight Up G might have punched his ticket to the Grade 3, $500,000 Sunland Derby with his wire-to-wire win Sunday in the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby at Sunland Park.
“We’ll definitely be looking at the Sunland Derby,” winning trainer Richard Baltas said in an interview broadcast by Sunland Park.
The Mine That Bird Derby was the final local prep for the Sunland Derby on March 27. It also was one of four stakes on Sunday’s card, with Miss Hard Knocks winning the $75,000 Island Fashion in what served as the final local prep for the $300,000 Sunland Park Oaks.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Slow Down Andy, winner of the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity in December but only sixth of 10 in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 19 at Fair Grounds, will be pointed to the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes on April 9 at Keeneland, trainer Doug O’Neill said over the weekend.
The Blue Grass is one of the leading preps for the Kentucky Derby on May 7 at Churchill Downs.
Grade 2, $1 million Rebel Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Oaklawn Park, Feb. 26, 2022
(50 Derby qualifying points for first, 20 for second, 10 for third, 5 for fourth)
Winner: Un Ojo, by Laoban
Trainer: Ricky Courville
Jockey: Ramon Vasquez
Owner: Cypress Creek Equine
Beyer Speed Figure: 84
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.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Simplification, who overcame a slow start to finish a game second in the Grade 3 Holy Bull, will have a new rider when he goes postward among the favorites in next Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A capacity field of 12 3-year-olds could be taking shape for the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth, a critical Kentucky Derby prep to be run at Gulfstream Park next Saturday.
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, a three-time winner of the Fountain of Youth, will have at least one of the favorites for the 1 1/16-mile race in Emmanuel. Pletcher also has Mo Donegal under consideration, depending on how the colt was to work this weekend at his Palm Beach Downs winter base.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Newgrange will be meeting both familiar and fresh rivals Saturday when he seeks to run his career record to 4 for 4 in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel at Oaklawn Park.
The 1 1/16-mile Kentucky Derby points race has lured the first five finishers from last month’s Southwest Stakes, which Newgrange won, as well as a shipper from New York in Un Ojo and the exciting local runner Chasing Time in a packed field of 11.
