Horse Racing
Claire Novak 9y

American Pharoah rolls in Rebel

Horse Racing

American Pharoah bobbled at the break but never looked back, galloping gate-to-wire to win the $750,000 Rebel Stakes by 6-1/4 lengths in his season debut March 14 at Oaklawn Park.

The defending 2-year-old champion made a long-awaited return to the races at odds of 2-5 when starting for the first time since last September, but with many wondering whether he would handle his first outing on a sloppy track. Owner Ahmed Zayat even wondered whether he should scratch, but when sent out to run the colt answered the question with a resounding "yes," carrying on to victory under jockey Victor Espinoza despite twisting his right front shoe leaving the gate.

"I was a little bit concerned at the break because Victor said he moved right before they broke … he stumbled and he grabbed himself," said Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who has now won five of the past six editions of the Rebel. "I just talked to [assistant trainer] Jimmy [Barnes] and I guess he sprung the right shoe pretty well, he noticed it when he came back. He was running with a shoe bent the whole way around there, which just goes to show you what kind of a horse he is.

"Once he got to the first turn and he was just in his groove, galloping, I just thought 'Well, if he's the horse we hope he is, he's in good shape.' You're always hoping that he's going to run like that. He showed us in the mornings he does that, so it was just a perfect kind of race for him to come back.

"When you run on a track like that you're always concerned about something coming up, but so far everything looks good. It was pretty exciting."

American Pharoah, owned by Zayat Stables, hadn't raced since a victory in the Sept. 27 FrontRunner Stakes at Santa Anita Park, a win he earned off a score in the Sept. 3 Del Mar Futurity. The colt was named 2-year-old champion at the end of the season despite missing the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile Nov. 1 with an issue in his left front foot, and came into the Rebel for a late start to his 3-year-old campaign after training steadily at Santa Anita.

The Rebel gave American Pharoah 50 points on the road to the Kentucky Derby, upping his total to 60 points, which assures a spot in the 20-horse starting gate on the first Saturday in May.

American Pharoah set modest early fractions of :24.41 seconds, :49.63 seconds, and 1:15.22 in the Rebel before hitting the head of the stretch and lengthening away through a mile in 1:39.76. He finished the 1-1/16-mile Rebel on a sloppy track in 1:45.78, with Madefromlucky a distant second. The runner-up is a son of Lookin at Lucky, who was Baffert's first Rebel winner.

The winner returned $2.80, $2.20, and $2.10. Madefromlucky paid $3.40 and $2.80 in second, while Bold Conquest brought $2.80 when 2-1/2 lengths back in third. The Truth Or Else, Paid Admission, Sakima, and Tizwonderfulcreek completed the order of finish.

A homebred out of the Yankee Gentleman mare Littleprincessemma, American Pharoah has now won three of four starts for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, with earnings of $811,500.

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