Rebel Stakes | Horse Racing Free Tips

Keepmeinmind Stays ‘Nice And Relaxed’ In Final Work For Oaklawn’s Rebel

Grade 2 winner Keepmeinmind completed major preparations for the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds March 13 at Oaklawn with a 5-furlong workout over a fast track Friday morning for trainer Robertino Diodoro.

Keepmeinmind breezed alone after the second surface renovation break under regular rider David Cohen. A late-running son of Laoban, Keepmeinmind was clocked in 1:02.20 and galloping out 6 furlongs in 1:16, according to clockers who recorded earlier splits of :13 for the colt's opening eighth of a mile, :37 for 3 furlongs and :49.80 for a half-mile. The 5-furlong time ranked 23rd of 32 published at the distance.

“We were just looking for something easy,” Diodoro said after watching the work from the frontside. “David did a good job of keeping him nice and relaxed because he can get a little tough. It's just about keeping him healthy and happy now.”

Friday's work was the eighth this year at Oaklawn for Keepmeinmind, unraced since a last-to-first victory in the $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs.

Keepmeinmind has been scheduled to make his 3-year-old debut in the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) Feb. 15 at Oaklawn before the 1 1/16-mile race was postponed twice because of harsh winter weather. The Southwest was run last Saturday, but Diodoro opted to begin Keepmeinmind's 2021 campaign in the Rebel after Oaklawn lost 11 days of training (Feb. 12-22) because of arctic temperatures and heavy snow. Keepmeinmind returned to the work tab Feb. 26, covering 5 furlongs in 1:03.20.

“Those two weeks back training, having a couple of works in him, really seemed to do him a lot of good,” Cohen said. “Today was just an easy work, trying to keep him as quiet as possible. Still, a nice, long gallop out, with nothing too rapid. I was very happy with the way he broke off. He has a tendency to get real tough. He did it really relaxed. Was very within himself.”

Prior to breaking his maiden in the Kentucky Jockey Club, Keepmeinmind finished second in the $400,000 Breeders' Futurity (G1) Oct. 3 at Keeneland and third in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Nov. 6 at Keeneland. Essential Quality won the Breeders' Futurity and Breeders' Cup Juvenile en route to being named the country's champion 2-year-old male and captured the Southwest in his 2021 debut for Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox to remain unbeaten in four lifetime starts.

The 1 1/16-mile Rebel is Oaklawn's third of four Kentucky Derby points races and will offer 85 (50-20-10-5, respectively) toward starting eligibility for the first leg of the Triple Crown.

The Oaklawn racing department listed eight early probables Friday morning for the Rebel – Big Lake for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, Caddo River (Cox), Concert Tour (Bob Baffert), Keepmeinmind, Nova Rags (Bill Mott), O Besos (Greg Foley), Starrininmydreams (Dallas Stewart) and Super Stock (Asmussen).

Caddo River, a homebred for John Ed Anthony of Hot Springs, was a record-setting 10 ¼-length winner of the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 22, Oaklawn's first Kentucky Derby points race. Unbeaten Concert Tour (2 for 2) possesses a resume that is a carbon copy of last year's Rebel winner, Nadal, another Baffert trainee.

Concert Tour broke his maiden Jan. 15 at Santa Anita and won the $200,000 San Vicente Stakes (G2) Feb. 6 at Santa Anita. Concert Tour will be making his two-turn debut in the Rebel, a race Baffert has won a record seven times. Nova Rags finished second, beaten a length, in the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) Feb. 6 at Tampa Bay Downs in his last start.

The Rebel is among five stakes races to be run March 13 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, is scheduled to make his seasonal debut in the Hot Springs. The gelding has won the Hot Springs a record four consecutive years.

The Rebel is the final major local prep for the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) April 10.

The post Keepmeinmind Stays ‘Nice And Relaxed’ In Final Work For Oaklawn’s Rebel appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

‘Mild Sprain’ Pulls Senor Buscador Off Kentucky Derby Trail

Remington Springboard Mile winner Senor Buscador is no longer on the Kentucky Derby trail. The 3-year-old son of Mineshaft came out of a Friday breeze at Sam Houston with a “mild sprain” in his suspensory ligament, trainer Todd Fincher told horseracing.net.

“We are just doing what is best for the horse long term, because we could run him, but it would be risky,” Fincher said. “We need to stop him and give him time off because he such a good horse and has a bright future.”

Senor Buscador is a homebred for Joe Peacock, Jr. out of the top New Mexico-bred mare Rose's Desert, making him a half-brother to G3 winner Runaway Ghost. The colt broke his maiden at Remington Park on Nov. 6, circling the field with a big late run to win the 5 1/2-furlong sprint by 2 1 1/2 lengths. He immediately stepped up to win the Springboard Mile in similar fashion on Dec. 18, romping by 5 3/4 lengths.

Next out, Fincher sent Senor Buscador to the Fair Grounds for the G2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 13, but the colt could only manage fifth on the day. He had been targeting the G2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn in two weeks' time, but will now be given time away from the races.

Southwest Stakes: Spielberg In, Keepmeinmind To Wait For Rebel

Southern California-based Spielberg will join the lineup for this Saturday's delayed edition of the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park, reports the Daily Racing Form, while locally-based Keepmeinmind will wait two weeks for the G2 Rebel Stakes.

The Southwest, originally scheduled for Feb. 15, was delayed two weeks by a series of winter storms that hit that Hot Springs, Ark. track, but will still offer the winner 10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

Spielberg, a 3-year-old son of Union Rags trained by Bob Baffert, won the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity in 2020, but failed to fire when fourth last out in the G3 Bob Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita.

The colt worked six furlongs in 1:13.00 at Santa Anita on Sunday. He'll be piloted in the Southwest by Martin Garcia

“We're going,” Baffert told drf.com. “We'll see what he does over there. He's been training well.”

The Southwest is also expected to draw champion Essential Quality and Grade 1 winner Jackie's Warrior. Entries will be taken Tuesday afternoon.

Keepmeinmind, the Grade 2-winning son of Laoban trained by Robertino Diodoro, missed 11 days of training due to the condition in Arkansas, hence the decision to delay his 2021 debut until the Rebel Stakes on March 13.

Fincher Looks To Oaklawn, Santa Anita Preps For Late-Running Senor Buscador

Fifth as the second-favorite in last weekend's Grade 2 Risen Star at the Fair Grounds, the late-running Senor Buscador will be aimed toward another Kentucky Derby prep race at at different track. Trainer Todd Fincher told drf.com that the 3-year-old son of Mineshaft, winner of the Remington Springboard Mile in just his second career start, needs a pace setup and track surface that suit his closing style.

“I think he ran a way better race than it looks on paper,” Fincher told drf.com. “He made a big burst in the turn. The way everything was playing it was death to him. Watching all day, nothing closed, really. And the pace wasn't fast to begin with. Everything was against him. When you've got a horse like him, things have to go your way.”

Options on the table for the Joe Peacock homebred include the G2 Rebel at Oaklawn Park on March 13 and the G1 Santa Anita Derby on April 3.