Concert Tour | Horse Racing Free Tips

Concert Tour Runs Away From Rebel Rivals

The further we get down the GI Kentucky Derby trail, the more evident it becomes that Bob Baffert will saddle the favorite on the First Saturday in May. The only question is which of his super star colts it will be. 'TDN Rising Star' Life is Good (Into Mischief) kept his unbeaten record in tact with a dominant score in the GII San Felipe S. last weekend with barnmate Medina Spirit (Protonico) in second. On Saturday, Baffert sent out another undefeated colt to a sensational victory in a Derby prep in 'TDN Rising Star' Concert Tour (Street Sense), who ran the GII Rebel S. field off their feet at Oaklawn. That victory came about 2 1/2 hours after the Hall of Fame conditioner saddled his first Triple Crown winner American Pharoah's half-brother Triple Tap (Tapit) to an impressive, 'TDN Rising Star'-worthy debut win at Santa Anita.

Concert Tour earned his 'Rising Star' badge with a front-running 3 1/2-length score going six panels at Santa Anita Jan. 15. The bay defeated barnmate and recent GIII Withers S. third-place finisher Freedom Fighter (Violence) next out in the seven-furlong GII San Vicente S. there Feb. 6, earning a 94 Beyer Speed Figure. He prepped for this with a bullet six panels in 1:11 2/5 (1/11) at Santa Anita Mar. 6.

Away alertly in this first try around two turns, the 8-5 second-choice hustled straight to the front and was joined by 6-5 favorite Caddo River (Hard Spun) heading into the first turn. The chalk was reined in a bit to press from second as Concert Tour clocked a :23.42 first quarter under a quiet ride from Joel Rosario. Caddo River tugged at his pilot, who reminded him to be patient, as the pacesetter put up a half in :47.53. The Smarty Jones S. victor turned up the heat on the backstretch run, but Concert Tour was still well within himself entering the far turn and had yet to be asked by Rosario. Taking off with ease in the lane, the Gary and Mary West homebred was well clear of his foes by the time Rosario took a peak under his right arm just a few strides later and powered home a 4 1/4-length victor over stablemate Hozier (Pioneerof the Nile). Big Lake (American Pharoah) completed the trifecta and Caddo River faded to fifth.

It was the eighth Rebel victory for Baffert, who also saddled the likes of Lookin at Lucky (2010), The Factor (2011), Secret Circle (2012), Hoppertunity (2014), American Pharoah (2015), Cupid (2016) and Nadal (2020). All of those horses went on to be Grade I winners and stallions. Two of them–American Pharoah and Nadal–went on to win the GI Arkansas Derby in their next start and the latter, of course, followed that with a Triple Crown sweep.

“That was nice, impressive,” Baffert said. “I'm just happy to run one-two. That's pretty huge. I'm just glad they showed up. I just told Rosario he's fast. I know Caddo River's fast. This horse going two turns first out, just play the break and do what you think is right. He's a very, very fast horse. He looked like he was doing it pretty easily, though. They slowed up a little bit down the backside. Joel, you could really tell he was controlling the race. This is a really top horse. I was going to be disappointed if he didn't do what he did today.”

“It was a very good race,” Rosario said. “He broke very good and I just let him go on with it. It was impressive for his first time going two turns.”

Pedigree Notes:

Concert Tour is one of two products of the Wests breeding program on the Derby trail this year. The other is his barnmate Life is Good, who the couple sold to WinStar and China Horse Club for $525,000 at the Keeneland September Sale. The longtime owners were represented by three champion colts in the past five years: 2017 champion 3-year-old male West Coast (Flatter); 2018 champion juvenile colt Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}); and 2019 champion sophomore colt and West homebred Maximum Security (New Year's Day).

The Wests' bloodstock advisor and racing manager Ben Glass purchased Concert Tour's dam Purse Strings for $240,000 at the Keeneland September Sale. Her first foal, the now-4-year-old Catholic Guilt (Hard Spun), was picked up by Donegal Racing for $100,000 at KEESEP. He is winless in seven starts so far in his career, but is entered in the first race at Oaklawn Sunday. Purse Strings failed to get in foal to Distorted Humor after producing Concert Tour, but had a Lookin at Lucky colt Apr. 24 of last year. She was bred back to the Wests' GSW & MGISP American Freedom (Pulpit), who is represented by his first juveniles this year. This is also the female family of champion juvenile filly Stardom Bound (Tapit).

Concert Tour is one of 35 graded victors and 79 black-type scorers for his sire Street Sense. He is also one of 18 graded winners and 42 black-type winners out of a daughter of Tapit. The unbeaten colt is bred on the same cross as GSW & MGISP Air Strike.

Saturday, Oaklawn Park
REBEL S.-GII, $1,000,000, Oaklawn, 3-13, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:43.18, ft.
1–CONCERT TOUR, 117, c, 3, by Street Sense
1st Dam: Purse Strings, by Tapit
2nd Dam: My Red Porsche, by Mt. Livermore
3rd Dam: Wind Chime, by Marfa
O-Gary and Mary West; B-Gary & Mary West Stables Inc. (KY);
T-Bob Baffert; J-Joel Rosario. $600,000. TDN Rising Star
Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $756,600. TDN Rising Star
Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Hozier, 117, c, 3, Pioneerof the Nile–Merry Meadow, by
Henny Hughes. ($625,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). O-SF Racing LLC,
Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC,
Golconda Stable, Siena Farm LLC and Robert E. Masterson;
B-WinStar Farm, LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $200,000.
3–Big Lake, 117, c, 3, American Pharoah–Resistivity, by Student
Council. ($250,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Mike G. Rutherford;
B-Mike G. Rutherford (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $100,000.
Margins: 4 1/4, 3/4, 1HF. Odds: 1.70, 18.80, 18.00.
Also Ran: Super Stock, Caddo River, Keepmeinmind, Get Her Number, Twilight Blue.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Local Prep Winner Caddo River Favored Over Baffert Pair In Saturday’s Rebel

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has dominated Oaklawn's four-race Kentucky Derby prep series the last decade. But it's Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox who has owned 2021.

Cox sent out Caddo River to a record-setting 10 ¼-length victory in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 22 for breeder/owner John Ed Anthony of Hot Springs. Cox then saddled champion 2-year-old male Essential Quality to win the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) Feb. 27 and remain unbeaten in four career starts.

It's now Caddo River's turn, again, this time in the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2), which highlights Saturday's blockbuster program at Oaklawn. Probable post time for the Rebel, the 11th of 12 races, 5:16 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at noon. The infield will be open, weather permitting.

The Rebel is among five stakes races to be run Saturday at Oaklawn, the others being the $150,000 Temperence Hill for older horses at 1 ½ miles, $200,000 Hot Springs for older sprinters, $350,000 Azeri (G2) for older females at 1 1/16 miles and the $500,000 Essex Handicap for older horses at 1 1/16 miles.

Whitmore, the country's champion male sprinter of 2020, will be making his seasonal debut in the Hot Springs. The gelding has won the 6-furlong Hot Springs a record four consecutive years. The Azeri will mark the 2021 debut of Shedaresthedevil, last year's Kentucky Oaks winner and a finalist for champion 3-year-old filly.

The Rebel is Oaklawn's third of four Kentucky Derby points races. The eight entrants from the rail out: Caddo River, Florent Geroux to ride, 122 pounds, 9-5 on the morning line; Big Lake, Ricardo Santana Jr., 117, 12-1; Hozier, Martin Garcia, 117, 12-1; Get Her Number, Javier Castellano, 119, 8-1; Twilight Blue, Brian Hernandez Jr., 119, 15-1; Keepmeinmind, David Cohen, 119, 4-1; Concert Tour, Joel Rosario, 117, 2-1; and Super Stock, Joe Talamo, 117, 6-1.

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.

Caddo River earned 10 points for his front-running victory in the 1-mile Smarty Jones, which marked the two-turn debut for the long-striding son of 2007 Kentucky Derby runner-up Hard Spun. Caddo River closed his 2-year-old campaign with a front-running 9 ½-length maiden victory going a mile Nov. 15 at Churchill Downs.

Baffert finished second to Cox in the Southwest with Spielberg, but returns for the Rebel, a race the trainer has won a record seven times, with a more highly regarded prospect in unbeaten Concert Tour (2 for 2). Concert Tour, who will be making his two-turn debut, broke his maiden Jan. 15 at Santa Anita and won the $200,000 San Vicente Stakes (G2) Feb. 6 at Santa Anita.

“Concert Tour, I just think that he's done everything right and he's worked well coming into this race,” said Baffert, who, since 2010, has 15 victories in Kentucky Derby prep races at Oaklawn. “I think Caddo River is definitely the horse to beat. Cox is tough right now. He's got some nice horses and does a great job. And Keepmeinmind ran a great race in the Breeders' Cup. He's a good horse. You want to move forward. You just want to make a forward progression. They have to run first or second, to me. They've got to run first or second.”

Caddo River had been based at Oaklawn before Cox moved the colt to Fair Grounds Feb. 11, shortly before severe winter weather shuttered Oaklawn for almost two weeks. Remaining on a regular work schedule, Caddo River breezed four times at Fair Grounds before returning to Hot Springs Wednesday. Caddo River was able to clear his rivals from the extreme outside (post 7) going into the first turn of the Smarty Jones and now gets the rail for the Rebel.

“We'll see how it goes,” Cox said. “He's doing great. We couldn't ask him to be training any better. He hasn't missed anything. He's on a great schedule and training like the part.”

Caddo River's resume has been flattered in recent weeks. Smarty Jones runner-up Cowan finished a troubled second in the $1.5 million Saudi Derby Feb. 20 in Saudi Arabia and Greatest Honour, who twice finished behind Caddo River in maiden races last fall in New York, won the $200,000 Holy Bull Stakes (G3) Jan. 30 and the $300,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) Feb. 27. Both races were at Gulfstream Park.

“It's nice to see that horse has been kind of dominating the south Florida circuit,” Cox said. “He's run twice and obviously he's moved forward. I think we've moved forward as well. It gives us confidence, for sure.”

Baffert won the 2020 Rebel with Nadal, who also entered 2 for 2 after breaking his maiden sprinting in January at Santa Anita and winning the San Vicente. Concert Tour stalked the pace in the San Vicente and Baffert called Saturday's post position “fine.”

“My horses always seem to draw the rail,” Baffert said. “I draw it so much. It's one of those things, they still have to get away cleanly. Spielberg had a nice outside post and it ended up a horrendous break. No fault of anybody's, but he just moved at the last minute. They still have to get away from there and break cleanly and get into the race. You just want to get them into a nice rhythm where they can breathe easily and not get stopped.”

Late-running Keepmeinmind will be making his first start since breaking his maiden with a last-to-first victory in the $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs. Prior to the Kentucky Jockey Club, Keepmeinmind finished third to Essential Quality in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Nov. 6 at Keeneland and second to Essential Quality in the $400,000 Breeders' Futurity (G1) Oct. 3 at Keeneland.

Keepmeinmind was to make his 3-year-old debut in the Southwest, which was originally scheduled to be run Feb. 15 before the race was postponed twice because of severe winter weather. Robertino Diodoro, Oaklawn's leading trainer last year, opted to pass the delayed Southwest and point for the Rebel after Keepmeinmind's training schedule was interrupted by snow and bitter cold. Keepmeinmind has been based at Oaklawn since late December.

“I like the draw, the post, I like everything about it, to be honest,” Diodoro said. “No complaints. My famous saying is the race is run on dirt, not paper, but on paper it looks like more pace than I predicted to be in there. I like what the race looks like.”

Diodoro said Keepmeinmind will carry the silks of famed Spendthrift Farm for the first time in the Rebel after it recently purchased an interest in the son of Laoban.

Grade 1 winner Get Her Number will be making his 3-year-old debut for Southern California-based trainer Peter Miller. Super Stock ran third in the Breeders' Futurity for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.

The Rebel is the final major local prep for the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) April 10. Nadal won the second division of last year's Arkansas Derby.

Baffert also won the Rebel in 2010 (Lookin At Lucky), 2011 (The Factor), 2012 (Secret Circle), 2014 (Hoppertunity), 2015 (American Pharoah) and 2016 (Cupid).

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This Side Up: River Levels Rising

They used to say that when you think you have two Epsom colts in your stable, you don't have any. The axiom has long since been decommissioned, however, by the skills of Aidan O'Brien and his patrons, albeit with the inane complicity of a commercial market that is disastrously diluting competition. And it looks as though it no longer transfers to the GI Kentucky Derby, either.

Having (eventually) landed running with champion Essential Quality (Tapit), and with Caddo River (Hard Spun) and Mandaloun (Into Mischief) testing their own credentials over the next eight days, Brad Cox is hoping to win three trials across four weekends. As such, the middle leg of this sequence has the potential to weigh quite significantly in the shifting balance of power at the top of the North American training profession.

Because the man who continues to set the standards, for Cox and everyone else, awaits Caddo River in the GII Rebel S. with a staggering record of seven winners, three seconds and a third from 13 starters since he first shipped here in 2010. And a week after producing an Authentic (Into Mischief) imitation, as it were, here comes Bob Baffert with a doppelganger for Nadal (Blame).

In fact, the evolution of Life Is Good (Into Mischief) and Concert Tour (Street Sense) seems so closely aligned to their predecessors in the barn–November maiden at Del Mar/GIII Sham/GII San Felipe for one; January maiden at Santa Anita/GII San Vicente/GII Rebel for the other–that we have to remind ourselves that these are different individuals, setting their trainer fresh challenges.

That said, when Baffert sticks to a formula it's because he has made it work. Certainly he has changed the way trainers think about the Triple Crown trail, having proved that his adolescent racehorses don't need the kind of grounding once considered essential. No doubt that reflects the experience his horses instead derive from the aggressive, speed-oriented works he imported from Quarter Horse training, often giving his better horses the chance to hone their velocity and confidence with a “punchbag.” That's exactly what Baffert arranged for Concert Tour the other morning–i.e. an inferior workmate released as a target to run down–and the response was electric.

Baffert has a genius for the fast horse that keeps going: precisely the challenge awaiting Cox with Caddo River on Saturday. The signs are promising, so fluidly has this guy maintained his cruising speed in different scenarios for his last two starts; and remember how his sire held out for second to Street Sense in the Derby, nearly six lengths clear of the third (horse called Curlin) after blazing away early. Street Sense and Hard Spun, of course, have long since shared the same stallion barn so it'll be fun for the Jonabell team to see them carry on their rivalry by proxy here.

Effortless speed is also the trademark of Life Is Good, just as it was with Authentic. And while the Horse of the Year has definitively confirmed their sire's eligibility as a Classic influence, in tandem with the upgrading of his mares, Life Is Good has also shown something of the mental immaturity we saw this time last year. Authentic, crucially, was indulged with a September Derby but this time round the race will, we trust, be run at its customary date. Life Is Good was conspicuously granted a clear run last week and, while he took freakish advantage, we'll have to see whether he will know how to respond when stretching out against 19 hostile rivals.

Life Is Good, who was sold as a yearling, and the homebred Concert Tour are both graduates of a program that notoriously has unfinished business with the GI Kentucky Derby.

In returning to Oaklawn, Gary and Mary West will remember the day their whole Turf adventure hit a different key, 28 years ago, with the 108-1 rock-your-world success of Rockamundo (Key to the Mint) in the Arkansas Derby. That horse was saddled by Ben Glass, who was fortunately persuaded to stay on as racing manager when deciding to quit training a couple of years later. When this team started out, they were claiming horses for $2,500 at places like Grand Island, Nebraska; and, in the convincing testimony of Glass, their experiences on a long road since have cultivated in his patrons exemplary standards of stoicism and attention to welfare.

He remembers when they went to the barns at 5 a.m. to see Buddha (Unbridled's Song) on the eve of the 2002 Derby. This was after the Wests had begun to raise the stakes: Glass had picked him out as a $250,000 yearling, and he had beaten Medaglia d'Oro in the GI Wood Memorial. And here was the second favorite for the Derby emerging from his stall, the morning before the race, holding off his left fore. An immediate scratch. Glass couldn't believe how Gary West took it on the chin. He just shrugged and said: “Well, I'm going back to bed.”

Ben Glass with Gary West | Sid Fernando photo

So the Wests and Glass had seen it all by the time they took Maximum Security (New Year's Day) to Churchill a couple of years ago. Or so they thought. No need, here, to reprise everything that happened then, and subsequently. Suffice to say that a) Thoroughbreds never cease schooling us in adversity; and b) whatever the rights and wrongs of Maximum Security's Derby, and indeed of his trainer at the time, we can all be grateful to the Wests for the priorities driving their program. Because the two races they most covet are the Derby and the Travers, and their investment in the type of Thoroughbred best adapted to those historic measures of the two-turn sophomore will only serve the breed well.

That's why it's always so edifying to review the purchases made by Glass at the September Sale. You won't see him joining the witless stampede for rookie sires whose averages will almost invariably never be so high again. Last year, he bought 15 colts catalogued from 29 to 2186, for between $65,000 and $360,000: two apiece by Blame, Distorted Humor, Flatter, Street Sense and Union Rags; plus one by Candy Ride (Arg), Empire Maker, Ghostzapper, Quality Road and Uncle Mo.

'TDN Rising Star' Concert Tour upon arrival at Oaklawn this week | Coady

Concert Tour is out of a Tapit mare, giving the Gainesway phenomenon yet another foothold in this year's Derby quest. So, again like Nadal, he looks bred to relish this second turn after showing his raw class sprinting. Certainly the Wests will be hoping to efface that nose defeat for their reappearing champion Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) in this race two years ago.

Game Winner subsequently passed the post sixth in the Derby, after a messy trip. That kind of thing rather goes with the territory, you would say, and let's hope nobody congratulated his owners on his promotion to fifth. Unfortunately Game Winner only managed one more start, though kept in training at four; but even that was one more than Buddha, after he was found to be lame that Friday morning. To that extent, we must hope that Concert Tour ceases to impersonate Nadal after the Arkansas Derby. Because you can safely say that this would be a Rebel winner with a cause.

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Baffert Seeks Eighth Rebel Win

Bob Baffert is dangerous at any track he runs at, but he seems to have a special affinity for Oaklawn, especially in the GII Rebel S. The Hall of Famer has won that event seven times, saddling the likes of Lookin at Lucky (2010), The Factor (2011), Secret Circle (2012), Hoppertunity (2014), Triple Crown hero American Pharoah (2015), Cupid (2016) and Nadal (2020). All of those horses went on to be Grade I winners and stallions and undefeated Concert Tour (Street Sense) looks to add his name to that illustrious list Saturday in Hot Springs.

Tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' off his impressive debut win at Santa Anita Jan. 15, the bay captured the seven-panel GII San Vicente S. next out there Feb. 6. The Gary and Mary West homebred breezed a six-panel bullet in 1:11 2/5 (1/11) in Arcadia Mar. 6. He makes his first attempt at two turns here, but is bred to relish a route of ground.

Caddo River (Hard Spun) demolished the field in his last starts and looks to continue that roll as he steps up to graded company here. Runner-up in his first two attempts going seven panels in New York this fall, the dark bay broke through with a 9 1/2-length graduation going a mile at Churchill Downs Nov. 15. He repeated next out with a front-running 10 1/4-length tour de force in the Smarty Jones S. in Hot Springs Jan. 22.

Runner-up in his off-the-turf unveiling at Churchill Sept 2, Keepmeinmind (Laoban) checked in second to champion Essential Quality (Tapit) next out in Keeneland's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity S. Oct. 3. Completing the trifecta behind that rival in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile there Nov. 6, the bay closed from well back to earn his diploma in Churchill's GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. Nov. 28, after which Spendthrift Farm bought in.

Get Her Number (Dialed In) makes his first start here since capturing the GI American Pharoah S. Sept. 26. Breaking his maiden first out sprinting on the turf at Del Mar Aug. 14, the bay set the pace before tiring to fourth in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf S. there Sept. 7. Switched to the main track at Santa Anita next out, he scored a narrow victory in the American Pharoah.

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