Full field pointing to Rebel
HOT SPRINGS - Oaklawn Park racing secretary Pat Pope listed 13 probables and three possibles for Saturday’s $600,000 Grade II Rebel Stakes for 3-year-olds.
Post positions for the 1 1-16-mile Rebel will be drawn Wednesday morning.
Oaklawn’s starting gate can accommodate as many as 14 horses, but Pope said the race will not be split.
The winner will receive 50 points under the new Kentucky Derby eligibility system.
Expected to be entered are Always in a Tiz, Big Lute, Capo Bastone, Carve, Delhomme, Den’s Legacy, Hardrock Eleven, Oxbow, So Raise Yourglass, Super Ninety Nine, Texas Bling, Treasury Bill and Will Take Charge, Pope said Sunday morning.
Pope listed Caribbean Storm and Stormy Holiday - both trained by Mac Robertson - and Proud Strike as possible starters.
If more than 14 enter, starting preference will be given to horses with the highest earnings in nonrestricted races.
If more than 12 horses enter, there could be a mutuel field for wagering purposes since Oaklawn’s tote board can only accommodate 12 separate betting interests.
Super Ninety Nine, the probable Rebel favorite, is scheduled to arrive Thursday on a flight from California, along with stablemate Den’s Legacy, owned by Westrock Stables LLC (Joe and Scott Ford of Little Rock).
Also scheduled to be on the flight is Treasury Bill, who will be ridden by Joe Talamo.
Saturday’s card also features the $150,000 Grade III Azeri Stakes for older fillies and mares at 1 1-16 miles.
Probables for the projected short field include Don’t Tell Sophia, She’s All In, Songs and Sonnets and Tiz Miz Sue.
Trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel said Garrett Gomez will ride the promising Songs and Sonnets, while Luis Quinonez will ride She’s All In.
Along with the annual boat and truck giveaway, the infield is scheduled to be open Saturday for the first “The Park Within The Park” promotion.
Weather permitting, the series for the final five Saturdays of the meeting will include a beer garden, live music and a kid zone.
Fatal breakdown
Yanbian Express (right front leg) was euthanized after breaking down early on the backstretch of Sunday’s seventh race, a second-level allowance/optional claimer for older fillies and mares at a mile.
Jockey Luis Quinonez wasn’t injured.
A 5-year-old Bandini mare, Yanbian Express was trained by Mike Lauer. She was racing for a $45,000 claiming price.
It was the third fatal race related breakdown of the meeting.
Triple-digit woman
Apropos received a 101 Beyer Speed Figure for her 10 1/4-length victory in Thursday’s featured $54,000 entry-level allowance sprint for older fillies and mares.
Ridden by Victor Lebron, Apropos ran 6 furlongs in a meet-best 1:10.04 and paid $3.80 as the 4-5 favorite in her 4-year-old debut.
“She came back great,” said Glenn Brookfield, who oversees trainer Al Stall’s Oaklawn division. “She came back acting like she hadn’t even run. She was bouncing around the shed row.”
Apropos was making her first start since a 2 1/4-length maiden victory Oct. 21 at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.
Brookfield said Apropos is a candidate for the $100,000 Carousel on April 11, which would be her stakes debut.
Apropos, who won for the second time in three lifetime starts, races for her breeders,Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider.
“They’ve got some decisions to make,” Brookfield said.
Cheery, owned by Claiborne and Dilschneider and trained by Stall, is pointing for the Carousel after winning the $60,000 American Beauty Stakes on Jan. 20 in her last start.
Brookfield said Cheery and Apropos would not run against each other.
Apropos is a full sister to unbeaten Carve, who is scheduled to make his stakes debut in Saturday’s $600,000 Grade II Rebel for 3-yearolds.
Rulings
Stewards fined jockey Cliff Berry $100 for riding Horizontal Fusion past the mile finish line following the filly’s neck victory in Friday’s fourth race.
Final furlong
The racing surface was upgraded from sloppy to muddy for Sunday’s final five races. … Sunday’s two winning CLASSIX tickets, each worth $10,686.30, were sold off track. … Sunday’s ninth race was the first at 1 3-16 miles since the 2007 meeting, said David Longinotti, Oaklawn’s assistant general manager/ racing. Sunday’s winner, Flattermejim, was making his first start since being claimed by trainer David Vance on behalf of Frank Vozel of Little Rock. … Trainer Lynn Whiting said Cyber Secret emerged from his victory in Saturday’s $150,000 Grade III Razorback Handicap in good order and will be pointed for the $500,000 Grade II Oaklawn Handicap on April 13.
Alternation, the beaten favorite in the Razorback, will also be pointed for the Oaklawn Handicap, trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel said. … The dam of In Jeopardy, winner of Sunday’s sixth race, is Grade I winner Flat Fleet Feet.
Oaklawn track announcer Frank Mirahmadi said he called one of Flat Fleet Feet’s racing victories, the Poinciana Breeders’ Cup Handicap, in 1997 at Hialeah in Florida. “Believe me, it wasn’t easy,” he said of the tongue-twister. … Storm Devil, an unstarted 3-yearold half brother to multiple stakes winner Now I Know, is entered in Thursday’s ninth race for trainer Don Von Hemel of Hot Springs.
Day 35 glance
ATTENDANCE 5,970 ON-TRACK HANDLE $382,339.10 OFF-TRACK HANDLE $1,666,783.39 TOTAL HANDLE $2,049,122.49 CLASSIX CARRYOVER None SUNDAY’S STARS Ricardo Santana Jr. rode three winners, including two for trainer Steve Asmussen. Calvin Borel rode three winners, including two for trainer Randy Morse. Robby Albarado rode two winners. Santana, Oaklawn’s leading rider this year, also had riding triples March 1, March 2 and March 3.
THURSDAY’S TIMES First post for the nine races is 1:30 p.m. Gates open at 11 a.m.
THURSDAY’S TELEVISION HRTV (full card), “Oaklawn Today” replays (8 p.m., Resort Cable Channel 5 11 p.m., KARZ, Channel 42, Little Rock, 11 p.m.) THURSDAY’S RADIO “Oaklawn Morning Line” (8:45 a.m., KVRE-FM, 92.9, Hot Springs Village)
Sports, Pages 18 on 03/11/2013