Concert Tour looking to give Baffert an eighth win in the Rebel

Mar 09, 2021 Vance Hanson/Brisnet.com

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, conventionally loaded this year with top Kentucky Derby (G1) prospects, will look to win Saturday's $1 million Rebel S. (G2) at Oaklawn Park for the eighth time in 12 years. Baffert's leading representative this time will be Concert Tour, who enters the 1 1/16-mile test unbeaten from two starts but untested around two turns.

A son of 2007 Derby winner Street Sense, Concert Tour has always been highly regarded. However, the Gary and Mary West homebred did not debut until Jan. 15, when he beat just four rivals by 3 1/2 lengths in a six-furlong maiden at Santa Anita. He passed his first stakes test in the seven-furlong San Vicente (G2) over seven furlongs, but only just as stablemate Freedom Fighter proved tenacious and kept Concert Tour's winning margin to a half-length.

On paper, the Rebel should offer a fair test in determining where Concert Tour is on the current Derby pecking order. Making his season debut is Keepmeinmind, who placed behind champion Essential Quality twice at Keeneland last fall in the Breeders' Futurity (G1) and Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) before earning his own prep win in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) at Churchill Downs.

Also among the betting favorites will be Caddo River, who enjoyed an easy trip on the lead in the Jan. 22 Smarty Jones S., which he wound up taking by 10 1/4 lengths for local owner John Ed Anthony and trainer Brad Cox. After placing in his first two starts in New York, the son of Hard Spun has won by open lengths in back-to-back mile races.

Hozier, another trained by Baffert, finished a distant fourth to Concert Tour in his debut but rebounded to break his maiden last month over 1 1/16 miles. Joining the Baffert pair from California is Get Her Number, an 8-1 chance when he captured the American Pharoah (G1) at Santa Anita last September in his first start on dirt.

The remainder of the Rebel field will be pari-mutuel outsiders. The group includes the Grade 1-placed Super Stock and last-out Oaklawn allowance winners Twilight Blue and Big Lake.

The Rebel will award Kentucky Derby qualifying points of 50-20-10-5 to the respective top four finishers, with the winner virtually guaranteed a starting slot in the May 1 classic at Churchill Downs. The Rebel goes off at 6:16 p.m. ET and can be watched and wagered on at TwinSpires.com.