Rebel Grads: The Champions and the Infamous

Although the Rebel Stakes (gr. 3) has produced two Kentucky Derby winners in Smarty Jones (photo) in 2004 and Sunny’s Halo in 1983, it has also produced other memorable winners of Triple Crown races and several champion 3-year-olds.

Last year trainer Bob Baffert brought champion 2-year-old Lookin at Lucky to Oaklawn Park for the 1-1/16 Rebel. Although he was not undefeated, having run a close second to Vale of York after a miserable trip in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. 1) in his only loss, he was at the time, the star of the 3-year-old class. Lookin at Lucky had also won the CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park since the Breeders’ Cup, so he came into Hot Springs, Ark., as the winter-book choice for the Kentucky Derby.

After being significantly cut-off nearing the far turn by Dublin and jockey Corey Nakatani as the even money favorite in the Rebel, Lookin at Lucky rallied to win by a head over Noble’s Promise in his 2010 debut.

Traffic problems continued to haunt Looking at Lucky through losses in the Santa Anita Derby (gr. 1) and Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands (gr. 1), but he was finally able to get a clear trip and won the Preakness Stakes. He would also go on to win the grade 1 Haskell Invitational and the grade 2 Indiana Derby on his way to being named Champion Three-Year-Old Male of 2010.

Three years earlier, Steve Asmussen brought Curlin to Oaklawn for the Rebel after breaking his maiden in his first start at Gulfstream Park in February. Curling would win the Rebel and the Arkansas Derby (gr. 2) and was second choice in the Derby. But he could only manage a third behind winner Street Sense and runner-up Hard Spun.

Curlin returned to win the Preakness Stakes before finishing second after a stretch-long duel with the filly Rags To Riches in the Belmont. Curlin then finished third in the Haskell in an upset by the ironically-named Any Given Saturday, but bounced back big to take the Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. 1) over Lawyer Ron, (winner of the 2006 Rebel). Curlin then went to Monmouth Park to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. 1) and was named 2007 Horse of the Year as well as Champion Three-Year-Old Male.

Three years earlier trainer John Servis brought his undefeated 3-year-old colt Smarty Jones to Hot Springs to prepare for a run at the Kentucky Derby. Smarty Jones swept through Oaklawn taking the Southwest Stakes, Rebel and Arkansas Derby and went to gate at Churchill Downs as the post time favorite. He did not disappoint, becoming the first undefeated winner of the Kentucky Derby since Seattle Slew in 1977.

Smarty Jones then won the Preakness but his bid to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 failed when he was defeated by Birdstone in the Belmont Stakes. Like Majestic Prince before him in 1969, Smarty Jones went into the Belmont undefeated, finished second and never raced again. But unlike Majestic Prince, Smarty Jones was awared the Eclipse Award for Champion Three-Year-Old Male.

One has to go back to 1980 to find the other Rebel graduate that went on to garner the champion 3-year-old title in Temperence Hill. Brought to Oaklawn by trainer Joseph B. Canty, Temperence Hill won the Arkansas Derby after the Rebel. But the trainer and owner John Ed Anthony decided to bypass the Derby and run instead in the Withers Stakes (gr. 3) at Aqueduct in New York, concerned that the colt needed some time to mature and overcome his laziness. Temperence Hill finished second in the Withers, missed the Preakness, then took the Belmont at odds of 43-1 over Kentucky Derby-winning filly Genuine Risk and Preakness winner Codex.

Temperence Hill would then win the Jockey Club Gold Cup and the Super Derby before he too would be named champion of his division that year.

Three years after Temperence Hill, Sunny's Halo (photo left) would win the Rebel, Arkansas Derby and Kentucky Derby of 1983. He finished sixth in the Preakness after reports of a sore ankle and skipped the Belmont. He would finish fourth in the Arlington Classic and missed the Queen's Plate (gr. 1) at Woodbine, again from the bothersome ankle. He ended his career winning the Super Derby by 12 lengths in track record time, before the nagging injuries ended his career.

Twelve years after Temperence Hill, owner John Ed Anthony returned to his native state of Arkansas with Pine Bluff in 1992. After Pine Bluff won the Rebel, he defeated Lil E.Tee in the Arkansas Derby but finished fifth behind him in the Derby. Pine Bluff avenged the loss in the Preakness, but could only manage a third in the Belmont behind A.P. Indy.

A more infamous Rebel graduate that also would go on to win the Belmont Stakes was Victory Gallop. After the Rebel, Victory Gallop defeated defending Horse of the Year Favorite Trick in the Arkansas Derby but could only muster two seconds to Real Quiet in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. But the 1-1/2 mile Belmont distance worked in Victory Gallop’s favor and he was able to deny Real Quiet his Triple Crown by catching him at the last moment to win the Belmont by a scant nose.

Saturday will be the 51st running of the Rebel Stakes and full gate of 13 has entered. Whether there is a future Derby, Preakness or Belmont winner in the bunch remains to be seen. But there is plenty of talent and plenty of stories in this group and somebody will eventually add to the lore that is Oaklawn Park's Rebel Stakes.

Click here for my Rebel Stakes Handicapping and Selections in ThoroFan.

Bird Brothers Battle For Championship

Oh the competition among siblings. Following Summer Bird's "slapping in the slop" Shadwell Travers victory Saturday at Saratoga, one must wonder how voters are now leaning in the race for Champion 3-Year-Old Male. Never one to predict or at times even understand, the voters mindset in any election, I'm going out on a limb here and say they're set on that son of Birdstone. Ironically, it's two brothers - both invited to the Kentucky Derby on the same day only after other, more qualified 3-year-olds according to Derby conditions, dropped out due to last minute injuries.

On one hand we have the Kentucky Derby winner, ever popular, often troubled and maligned Mine That Bird (photo right). A star in Canada as a 2-year-old, and an also ran in El Paso early this year, Mine That Bird won the Run For The Roses at 50-1 with a late acceleration not seen in any classic in many years. Both Calvin Borel and Mike Smith have left him twice now in a bizarre year when they also ride historically good females Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra.

With four trips on Mine That Bird between them, Borel has an "A+" effort in the Derby but a kind "D" for moving Mine That Bird too early in the Belmont. Smith gets a trafffic riddled "B" for his ride on Mine That Bird in Preakness but a "C-" with a tough pace question in the easy West Virginia Derby class. Throw in a minor throat surgery, stolen papers, a trainer who can't walk but likes to drive instead of fly, the Derby announcer forgetting Mine That Bird's name in midstretch and I have to tell ya Steve Asmussen: Mine That Bird makes Kensei look like a first time starter with the Rodney Dangerfield thing.

On the other hand is Summer Bird (photo left). Bred in Kentucky and raised in Florida by his Arkansas owners orginally from India, Summer Bird was just another unraced 3-year-old in March, a maiden only winner in the grade 2 Arkansas Derby, a good six-place finisher as a longshot in the Derby, an 11-1 winner of the Belmont and no match for Rachel Alexandra in the Haskell. Trainer Tim Ice has all the name recognition of the Starlight Vocal Band but is at least no longer a one hit wonder with Summer Bird's Travers win.

Liike brother Mine That, Summer can run. He just has a different way of going about things. While Mine That Bird likes to lay back early and launch as if leaving Cape Kennedy, Summer Bird slowly orbits the track before hitting his thrusters as if using only his slower but steadier momentum for the success of the mission. Just as he did in the Travers.

Although he was much closer to the lead than jockey Kent Desormeaux had wanted, Summer Bird galloped along stalking longshot Our Edge and Kensei. Around the turn, with Desormeaux's hands remaining patiently motionless, Summer Bird seemed to widen his stride alone and had worn down the two leaders by the time Desormeaux allowed him to run at the top of the stretch.

Summer Bird became the 30th horse to win both the Belmont and the Travers, joining Birdstone who won both races in 2004. Many of those previous 29 became Champion 3-Year-Old Male including Point Given ('01), Temperence Hill ('80), Arts and Letters ('69) and Damascus in 1967. Now Summer Bird will try to join that group.

Much of that depends on his next two starts which appears to be the Jockey Club Gold Cup against older horses on October 3 at Belmont Park before the Breeders' Cup Classic in November in California.