Solomini may lead Rebel field

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The fields for next Saturday’s Grade 2 Rebel, Grade 2 Azeri, and $300,000 Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park are just starting to take shape.

There is a working list of 11 to 12 for the Rebel, a points race for the Kentucky Derby, while Group 1 winner Blue Prize was to ship out of Florida on Friday for the Azeri.

Entries for the rich program will be drawn Wednesday. A flight bringing horses from Southern California is scheduled to arrive a handful of days out from the races, said Pat Pope, racing secretary for Oaklawn.

“We’re trying to come up with three super-strong races,” Pope said. “Next to Arkansas Derby Day, it’s our biggest day. It’s the prelude to the big events.”

The $900,000 Rebel, at 1 1/16 miles, is the local steppingstone to the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 14, while the Essex is expected to produce starters for the Grade 2, $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap on the same program. The $350,000 Azeri is the prep for the Grade 1, $700,000 Apple Blossom, which runs April 13 at Oaklawn.

The Rebel field will be capped at 14 and could include Combatant, Curlin’s Honor, Higher Power, High North, Magnum Moon, Mississippi, Mourinho, Solomini, Sporting Chance, Title Ready, and Zing Zang.

Solomini could go favored for his runner-up from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in November at Del Mar. In his most recent start he finished first in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity, but was placed third after being disqualified for interference. Sporting Chance won the Grade 1 Hopeful last September at Saratoga, while Mourinho won the Smarty Jones at Oaklawn and Combatant was second last out in the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes here, won by My Boy Jack.

Blue Prize could develop into a candidate for the Apple Blossom based on how she runs in the Azeri, trainer Ignacio Correas said. The race will be her first start since winning the Grade 2 Falls City Handicap by 8 1/2 lengths in November at Churchill Downs.

James Graham rode Blue Prize in the Falls City and will have the mount in the Azeri, Correas said.

Blue Prize is a daughter of Pure Prize who races for Merriebelle Stable. She was a Group 1 winner in her native Argentina.

Falls City runner-up Tiger Moth also is expected for the Azeri. Tiger Moth in January won the Grade 3, $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston.

Pope said weights for the Essex will be out Sunday.

The Rebel Day card will have 10 races, and first post will be 1:05 p.m. Central. The infield is scheduled to be open for the program, said Wayne Smith, general manager of Oaklawn. Rebel Day is traditionally the second-biggest business day for the track, and attendance could exceed 30,000.

Colonels dark temp er returns

The retired race car driver A.J. Foyt Jr. will be racing on two fronts Sunday. Colonels dark temp er, his West Virginia Derby winner, launches his 4-year-old season in the eighth race at Oaklawn Park. The same day, Foyt’s race cars will see action, said Jinks Fires, who trains Colonels dark temp er.

“He’s got two cars that he owns racing Sunday in Florida,” Fires said.

Colonels dark temp er made some noise on the track last year when he went 3 for 10 in his initial season, earning $710,037. Colonels dark temp er won his debut last February at Oaklawn and went on to run second in both the Grade 3 Matt Winn at Churchill and the Grade 3 Indiana Derby before proving a determined winner of the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer.

“He was pretty awesome,” Fires said. “He just went to the front and never looked back. He opened up on them and I said, ‘Wow!’ He gives you what he’s got.”

Sunday’s race, an optional $62,500 claiming route over 1 1/16 miles, will be the first since September for Colonels dark temp er. He closed out his season with a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park, a race from which runner-up Battle of Midway emerged to capture the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

As for Colonels dark temp er, he came out of the Oklahoma Derby with a stress fracture to a cannon bone, Fires said.

“He was shoved over another horse’s heels and when the foot came back it hit him in the shin,” Fires said. “That’s what we believed happened.”

Colonel dark temp er has resumed working at Oaklawn, and among his drills is a bullet five-eighths in 1:00 on March 3.

“We hope we’ve got him tight enough,” Fires said.

“He’s doing great. He loves to go out and train.”

Jon Court has the mount from post 5.

“He’s very competitive, so I feel like he’ll be up in the front with them,” Fires said of Colonels dark temper, a son of Colonel John and the mare Sweet Temper.

Fires said depending on how the races goes, Colonels dark temp er could become a candidate for the Grade 2,$750,000 Oaklawn Handicap.