Get Her Number’s troubled Rebel effort hard to measure

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Get Her Number is the wild card in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday at Oaklawn Park – the kind of horse who could step up and run a big race in the year’s final major prep for the Kentucky Derby.

The Arkansas Derby drew six horses Tuesday led by the undefeated Concert Tour. The 1 1/8-mile race anchors a 13-race program and will be supported by the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap, Oaklawn Mile, and Carousel Stakes.

The complete Arkansas Derby field from the rail, with riders, is Super Stock, Ricardo Santana Jr.; Caddo River, Florent Geroux; Hozier, Martin Garcia; Get Her Number, Francisco Arrieta; Concert Tour, Joel Rosario; and Last Samurai, Jon Court.

In the Count Fleet, champion Whitmore will break from post 2 in a seven-horse field that also drew C Z Rocket. It will go as the 11th, while the Arkansas Derby is slotted as race 12 on a program that starts at noon Central.

The stakes are part of the Racing Festival of the South, a series of eight major races over the first three Saturdays in April. The first four finishers in the Arkansas Derby will earn points for the Kentucky Derby on a scale of 100-40-20-10.

Get Her Number was a Grade 1 winner at 2, taking the 1 1/16-mile American Pharoah last September at Santa Anita over eventual graded stakes winners Rombauer and Spielberg. He earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 84.

“That was a really good race he ran that day, sitting just off the pace,” said Peter Miller, who trains Get Her Number for Gary Barber. “He ran a big race and I think that race would certainly put him in the picture on Saturday.”

Get Her Number has raced once since the American Pharoah, finishing a troubled seventh in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel won by Concert Tour on March 13 at Oaklawn. He was farther off the pace than usual, and encountered trouble in the stretch. Following the race, the horse returned home to his San Luis Rey training center base in Southern California.

“He was a little banged up,” Miller said. “When he got bumped, he kind of took a little piece of the skin off his ankle. So, that set us back at little. He breezed a half-mile [Monday], out five-eighths, looked really good.”

Miller said he likes the transition Get Her Number has made from 2 to 3.

“I think he’s more mature,” he said. “He’s a little bigger, looks stronger.

“I don’t think the distance is going to be a problem for him. You never know until they go through it, but he seems like a horse who wants to run long.”

The first stakes on the card Saturday is the Carousel, which drew six led by Frank’s Rockette and Edgeway. The Oaklawn Mile goes as the ninth race with a field of nine led by By My Standards, Rushie, and Wells Bayou.

The forecast for Saturday is a high of 74 degrees with a 25 percent chance of rain, according to the Weather Channel. The infield is scheduled to be open Saturday.

Kumin hoping for exacta

Sol Kumin is a winner even when he gets beat. At least that’s been the case with his stable’s top two sprinters. Kumin and three of his partners are co-owners of both champion Whitmore and C Z Rocket, who will meet for the third time Saturday in the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn.

“We’re going to try to do the exacta one more time,” Kumin said.

Whitmore won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint over C Z Rocket in November and one start later C Z Rocket flipped the script and won the Hot Springs Stakes over Whitmore in March at Oaklawn.

“They’re both such cool horses,” Kumin said. “I wish they could end up in different spots, but there’s only a few places for them this time of year. We’re excited for the race. We hope they can run one-two in some way.”

Kumin and partners bought into C Z Rocket ahead of his win in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship in September and their Madaket Stables races him with Tom Kagele and Gary Barber. Florent Geroux has the mount for trainer Peter Miller.

Kumin and company, as Head of Plains Partners, own Whitmore with Robert LaPenta and trainer Ron Moquett. They have been in on the horse since he was 4. He is now 8 and has earned $4.2 million.

“He’s one of my favorite horses I’ve ever owned,” Kumin said. “He’s a real warrior. He’s got so much heart. The job Ron and his team have done with him is incredible, to come back each year and compete.”

Kumin is attacking this year’s Racing Festival of the South. On the card Saturday, he also has Hozier in the Arkansas Derby and Wells Bayou in the Oaklawn Mile. Next weekend, he will be represented by champion Monomoy Girl in the Apple Blossom Handicap and could have Warrior’s Charge in the Oaklawn Handicap.

“I’m going to come down to Oaklawn,” Kumin said. “Since the Breeders’ Cup, I’ve gone to one race at Gulfstream Park and was there for about an hour.”

Kumin said his children’s sports activities will keep him busy until he can break away for the Apple Blossom.

Monomoy Girl has fast work

Champion Monomoy Girl remains on target for the Grade 1, $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap on April 17 at Oaklawn Park following a Saturday workout at Fair Grounds, trainer Brad Cox said.

Cox said Monomoy Girl worked five-eighths in 59.40 seconds and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.40. The work was not published as the Fair Grounds meet ended March 28.

Cox said Monomoy Girl arrived at Oaklawn on Sunday night and galloped at the track both Monday and Tuesday. She is scheduled to work Saturday at Oaklawn.

Cox said it was unusual for Monomoy Girl to be at the Fair Grounds following the meet, but she remained in New Orleans this year because he did not want to ship her to her spring base of Kentucky, then back to Arkansas for the Apple Blossom.

Monomoy Girl made her first start at Oaklawn in February, when she won the Grade 3 Bayakoa. She has since been pointing to the Apple Blossom. Monomoy Girl races for Spendthrift Farm, Madaket Stables, and My Racehorse. Her regular rider is Florent Geroux.