{"id":129891,"date":"2020-03-14T13:41:50","date_gmt":"2020-03-14T20:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=129891"},"modified":"2020-03-15T11:51:09","modified_gmt":"2020-03-15T18:51:09","slug":"nadal-favored-in-rebel-stakes-as-road-to-kentucky-derby-hits-oaklawn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nadal-favored-in-rebel-stakes-as-road-to-kentucky-derby-hits-oaklawn\/","title":{"rendered":"Nadal Favored in Rebel Stakes as Road to Kentucky Derby Makes Stop at Oaklawn"},"content":{"rendered":"

A week after Bob Baffert scored a big victory with Authentic<\/a> in the San Felipe Stakes, the legendary trainer rolls out another one of his big Kentucky Derby contenders Saturday at Oaklawn Racing and Gaming.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Nadal will look to go 3-for-3 in his young career with a win Saturday in the Grade II Rebel Stakes. (Image; Santa Anita)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nadal is the 5-2 favorite for the Grade II Rebel Stakes, which will award 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner.<\/p>\n

The colt didn\u2019t make his racing debut until less than two months ago, when he nearly led wire-to-wire in his maiden race, lengthening his lead at every marker to win by 3-3\/4 lengths in the 6-1\/2 furlong race. He followed that up with a win in the Grade II San Vicente Stakes last month. In that Santa Anita race, Joel Rosario positioned Nadal directly behind Ginobili throughout the seven-furlong race, and powered his way to a three-quarters length win in the final strides.<\/p>\n

Saturday will be a test for Nadal, as it will be his first time to navigate two turns. He\u2019s also stepping up quite a bit in distance, as the Rebel goes a mile and a sixteenth.<\/p>\n

The Host Springs, Ark., track has been hit by rain for most of the weekend, and forecasts call for more leading up to the 6:23 pm ET post time.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a big, strong horse,\u201d said Baffert. \u201cHope we don\u2019t get too much bad weather. I would like to see what he does on a dry track, but it\u2019s all out of my hands.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This wouldn\u2019t be the first time Baffert\u2019s taken a colt unraced as a 2-year-old and turned him into a legitimate Derby contender. Justify didn\u2019t race until he turned 3 and became a Triple Crown winner.<\/p>\n

Rebel Offers Challengers to Nadal<\/h2>\n

The Baffert colt drew the inside gate in the field of eight, and while he\u2019ll likely be bet down from his opening 5-2 line regardless of the weather or track conditions, there appear to be several challengers who may be available at a quality price.<\/p>\n

Basin hasn\u2019t raced since September, when the Steven Asmussen-trained colt won the Grade I Hopeful Stakes. But the trainer said his colt has been looking like a Grade I winner in his recent workouts. Javier Castellano will get the mount.<\/p>\n

Two horses have 7-2 morning-line odds. That includes Three Technique, who will make his graded stakes debut and has two wins and three seconds in five starts. Luis Saez will get the mount Saturday and be the third jockey to ride the colt, trained by Jeremiah Englehart.<\/p>\n

\n

The other 7-2 horse is Silver Prospector. Another Asmussen horse, Silver Prospector has two graded stakes wins under his belt, including one over Tiz the Law<\/a> at Churchill Downs in November\u2019s Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. However, he also has had some so-so races, including a fourth-place finish in Oaklawn\u2019s Smarty Jones on Jan. 24, although he followed that up three weeks later with a win in the Grade III Southwest Stakes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Ricardo Santana Jr. gets the mount on Silver Prospector, who will break from the fourth gate. Basin will break to his inside at third, and Three Technique drew the sixth gate.<\/p>\n

The full field and odds can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Second Derby Prep at Turfway<\/h2>\n

Another Derby prep will take place at Turfway Park, although the Grade III Jeff Ruby Stakes doesn\u2019t feature nearly the quality Derby candidates as the Rebel.<\/p>\n

A field of 11 will run Saturday evening, and the best horses appear to be on the outside. The winner will get 20 Derby qualifying points.<\/p>\n

Invader will make his graded stakes debut and has won his last two races, both of which came at the northern Kentucky track. That includes a six-and-a-quarter length win in the John Battaglia Stakes on Feb. 14. Albin Jimenez gets the mount on the Wesley Ward-trained colt.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll break from the 10th gate and is the morning-line favorite at 3-1.<\/p>\n

To his outside is Field Pass, a Michael Maker-trained colt who has graded stakes experience but just two wins and two seconds in seven starts. He is, though, coming off a win in the Feb. 1 Dania Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park. He was two lengths back in fifth at the top of the stretch before rallying at the wire to win by a neck.<\/p>\n

Irad Ortiz Jr. gets the call on Field Pass, who has morning-line odds of 7-2.<\/p>\n

The full field and odds can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week after Bob Baffert scored a big victory with Authentic in the San Felipe Stakes, the legendary trainer rolls out another one of his big Kentucky Derby contenders Saturday at Oaklawn Racing and Gaming. Nadal is the 5-2 favorite for the Grade II Rebel Stakes, which will award 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":129892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14577,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNadal Favored in Rebel Stakes as Road to Kentucky Derby Hits Oaklawn<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A week after Bob Baffert scored a big victory with Authentic in the San Felipe Stakes, the legendary trainer rolls out another one of his big Kentucky\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nadal Favored in Rebel Stakes as Road to Kentucky Derby Hits Oaklawn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A week after Bob Baffert scored a big victory with Authentic in the San Felipe Stakes, the legendary trainer rolls out another one of his big Kentucky\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nadal-favored-in-rebel-stakes-as-road-to-kentucky-derby-hits-oaklawn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-14T20:41:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-15T18:51:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Nadal-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"571\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nadal-favored-in-rebel-stakes-as-road-to-kentucky-derby-hits-oaklawn\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nadal-favored-in-rebel-stakes-as-road-to-kentucky-derby-hits-oaklawn\/\",\"name\":\"Nadal Favored in Rebel Stakes as Road to Kentucky Derby Hits Oaklawn\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nadal-favored-in-rebel-stakes-as-road-to-kentucky-derby-hits-oaklawn\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nadal-favored-in-rebel-stakes-as-road-to-kentucky-derby-hits-oaklawn\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Nadal-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-14T20:41:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-15T18:51:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"A week after Bob Baffert scored a big victory with Authentic in the San Felipe Stakes, the legendary trainer rolls out another one of his big Kentucky\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nadal-favored-in-rebel-stakes-as-road-to-kentucky-derby-hits-oaklawn\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nadal-favored-in-rebel-stakes-as-road-to-kentucky-derby-hits-oaklawn\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nadal-favored-in-rebel-stakes-as-road-to-kentucky-derby-hits-oaklawn\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Nadal-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Nadal-1.png\",\"width\":800,\"height\":571,\"caption\":\"(Image; 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