American Pharoah won the Rebel Stakes in 2015 at Oaklawn. Now, the winner of the 2020 American Pharoah Stakes, Get Her Number, will try to do the same in Saturday's $1 million Grade 2 event in Hot Springs, Ark.
Get Her Number, who is trained by Southern California-based Peter Miller, will make his 3-year-old debut in the Rebel, a 1 1/16-mile event that is Oaklawn's third of four Kentucky Derby points races. Get Her Number already has something on his resume that seven scheduled Rebel rivals don't – a Grade 1 victory. That came in his dirt debut and final start last year, the $300,000 American Pharoah Stakes Sept. 26 at Santa Anita.
The 1 1/16-mile race, renamed in 2018 to honor the 2015 Triple Crown winner, was a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” event for the $2 million Juvenile (G1) Nov. 6 at Keeneland. A minor physical setback, however, caused Get Her Number to miss the race.
A versatile son of Dialed In, Get Her Number lands in the Rebel off a string of workouts at San Luis Rey Downs north of San Diego.
“We wanted to get him race-fit before we picked the spot,” Miller said Wednesday afternoon. “He's not 100 percent fit, but we've got to get him going here. He's ready to run, so this looked like a good spot to start him back.”
Get Her Number, who races for prominent California owner Gary Barber, has won 2 of 3 starts overall. Get Her Number's first two starts came on turf at Del Mar. He debuted with a half-length victory at 5 furlongs Aug. 14 before finishing fourth, beaten a length, in the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Turf at a mile Sept. 7. Get Her Number won the American Pharoah by three-quarters of a length.
Get Her Number has been a forward factor throughout his career, but Miller said he doesn't expect the colt to press the issue Saturday. Rebel entrants include 9-5 program favorite Caddo River, who has won his last two starts, including the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 22 at Oaklawn, by a combined 19 ¾ front-running lengths.
“There looks like plenty of pace, so we're not going to get involved early,” Miller said. “We're going to try and sit back, third, fourth, something like that, and see if he can't finish into the race.”
The Rebel will offer 85 points (50-20-10-5, respectively) to the top four finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby, which is limited to 20 horses. Get Her Number collected 10 points for his American Pharoah victory and ranks 19th on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard, according to Churchill Downs.
Get Her Number is 8-1 on the morning line for the Rebel and will be ridden for the first time by Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano. Get Her Number drew post 4.
In addition to the Rebel, American Pharoah won Oaklawn's $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) in 2015 before sweeping the Triple Crown and being named Horse of the Year.
The Rebel is the final major local prep for the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) April 10.
The post Get Her Number ‘Not 100 Percent Fit,’ But Ready To Start 2021 Campaign In Saturday’s Rebel appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
