Timberlake launches campaign in Rebel; West Omaha among 10 in Honeybee

Feb 19, 2024 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Last year’s Champagne (G1) winner, Timberlake, makes his three-year-old debut in Saturday’s $1.25 million Rebel (G2) at Oaklawn Park. The 1 1/16-mile test offers Kentucky Derby (G1) points to the top five finishers according to the 50-25-15-10-5 scale.

So does the Rebel’s companion race on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, the Honeybee (G3), where Timberlake’s stablemate West Omaha could kick off a double for their trainer, Brad Cox.

Rebel (G2)

Timberlake has not raced since his fourth behind champion Fierceness in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). But the son of leading sire Into Mischief ranks as the established class of the Rebel field. A big-margin maiden winner in his second try at Ellis Park last summer, he was runner-up as the favorite in the Hopeful (G1), a better-than-appears effort given the way it unfolded. Timberlake rolled next time in the Champagne, and he’s been training forwardly for his reappearance. Cristian Torres picks up the mount on the well-regarded colt, who will break in the middle of the 13-horse field in post 7.

Timberlake just secured his spot in the Fanduel #BreedersCup Juvenile with victory in the #WinAndYoureIn Champagne Stakes! Cheers to the connections!

J: Florent Geroux
T: Brad Cox
O: Siena Farm LLC and WinStar Farm LLC
B: St. Elias Stables, LLCpic.twitter.com/8kfmCGu0iA

— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) October 7, 2023

Four are returning from Oaklawn’s most recent prep, the Feb. 3 Southwest (G3) – runner-up Just Steel; fifth Common Defense; Carbone, seventh as the 9-5 favorite; and 10th Magic Grant.

Just Steel, by Triple Crown champion Justify, was also second in Oaklawn’s initial scoring race, the Jan. 1 Smarty Jones. Although he has yet to win beyond sprint distances, legendary trainer D. Wayne Lukas has said that the colt’s fitness will improve with racing. Post 11 doesn’t make his task any easier, though.

Carbone is eligible to prove his Southwest result all wrong. The Steve Asmussen pupil garnered favoritism by winning his first two starts impressively, but tired after dueling with his stablemate in muddy conditions. Considering that his training pattern at that time was interrupted by the adverse winter weather in Hot Springs, Carbone could be a different proposition in the Rebel. Yet the speedy colt might still get embroiled early from his rail post on Saturday.

It’s noteworthy that Tyler Gaffalione rides another Asmussen runner, Dimatic, who broke his maiden over this track and trip on the Southwest undercard. By Gun Runner out of a full sister to champion Untapable (by Tapit), Dimatic is a brother to Dreamlike, a place-getter in last year’s Pennsylvania Derby (G1) and Wood Memorial (G2). Rounding out the Asmussen trio is Lagynos, sixth in the Smarty Jones.

Southwest romper Mystik Dan is skipping this race, preferring to await the Arkansas Derby (G1), but trainer Ken McPeek has two others to pitch into the Rebel. The aforementioned Common Defense ran a sneakily-good fifth in the Southwest, straight off his maiden win, and now he gets a rider switch to Brian Hernandez Jr. Stablemate Northern Flame, fourth in the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) and a trailing fifth Street Sense (G3) last fall, gamely wired an allowance here in his latest.

Mena, who just missed to Northern Flame in that Jan. 28 allowance, has a pedigree angle. The Hard Spun colt is a full brother to Caddo River, the 2021 Smarty Jones conqueror who was fifth as the favorite in the Rebel.

Also exiting a Jan. 28 allowance are Woodcourt and Next Level, the top two in a frenetic finish in a similar one-mile event, albeit in a slower time than Northern Flame. Perhaps the one to take out of that common allowance is Tejon Pass, who wound up a tough-trip fifth.

Trained by Peter Miller, Tejon Pass has past stakes form. The Justify colt was third in the Nov. 19 Bob Hope (G3) at Del Mar behind the dazzling Nysos, and eventual Sunland Park Derby (G3) scorer Stronghold, and next time on Dec. 31, he was runner-up in the Renaissance S. on this track. That race featured an all-Justify exacta, with winner Valentine Candy by the same standout.

Time for Truth likewise has form through Valentine Candy, having chased him home in the Feb. 10 Ozark S.  Both of Time for Truth’s starts have come at six furlongs, including a sharp first-out win, and now he makes his two-turn debut for Ron Moquett. His pedigree is encouraging, as the son and grandson of Rebel winners. Time for Truth is by Omaha Beach, hero of the 2019 Arkansas Derby and a division of the Rebel, out of a mare by champion Lookin at Lucky, the 2010 Rebel star. But his far outside post 13 is an obstacle.

Honeybee (G3)

Cox originally had West Omaha among his trio entered in last Saturday’s Rachel Alexandra (G2) before opting to send her to Oaklawn Park. The Gary and Mary West homebred had run well in the first two legs of the Fair Grounds series, placing second in the Dec. 23 Untapable S. and delivering a breakout performance in the Jan. 20 Silverbulletday S.

#6 West Omaha was dominant in the Silverbulletday S. and earns 20 points towards the #KentuckyOaks! 🌷@bradcoxracing trains and @luissaezpty was aboard.

🎥 #TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/3gpT0piZpS

— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) January 20, 2024

Alys Beach, who was scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), was last seen finishing third in the Alcibiades (G1). The Tom Amoss runner had shown potential at Saratoga. After a scrappy debut win, beating future Grade 2 victress Life Talk, Alys Beach was a closing fourth in the Spinaway (G1).

Three fillies advance from Oaklawn’s Feb. 3 Martha Washington S. – Band of Gold, who sprang a 24-1 surprise for McPeek in the slop, and the respective third and fourth, Neom Beach and Tapit Jenallie. Neom Beach was a closer third than she had been in her prior start, the Year’s End S., and she brings an upwardly-mobile profile for Asmussen. Like Alys Beach, Neom Beach is a daughter of Omaha Beach, giving their sire a chance of a successful day.

Midshipman’s Dance, 2-for-2 after capturing the six-furlong Mockingbird S., stretches out for the first time. The same route question is posed to Edistrudis, the fourth-placer in the Mockingbird.

In Just My Heels, a course-and-distance maiden winner for Moquett, is out of High Heels, the runner-up in the 2007 Honeybee. High Heels went on to win Oaklawn’s signature race for sophomore fillies, the Fantasy (G2), and placed third in the Kentucky Oaks. High Heels is herself a half-sister to multiple Grade 1 vixen On Fire Baby, the 2012 Honeybee winner. Thus In Just My Heels will try to add to the family’s legacy in this race.

Recent maiden winner Honor Cat, a stablemate of Midshipman’s Dance from the Robertino Diodoro barn, and the Lukas-trained Lemon Muffin, runner-up in three straight sprint maidens, round out the 10-filly field.

You can watch and wager on all the Oaklawn action at TwinSpires.com.