{"id":100829,"date":"2019-03-18T16:16:03","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T23:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=100829"},"modified":"2019-03-18T16:18:24","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T23:18:24","slug":"race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/","title":{"rendered":"Race to Kentucky Derby Recap: Rebel Stakes Offers Fantastic Finishes at Weekend Oaklawn in Arkansas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday was a big day on the road to the Kentucky Derby<\/a>, as both divisions of the Rebel Stakes ended in dramatic fashion.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jockey Jon Court celebrated Long Range Toddy\u2019s win over Improbable in the first division of the Rebel Stakes on Saturday at Oaklawn Racing and Gaming. The colt came from fourth place down the stretch to nip the favorite at the wire.\u00a0(Image: Coady Photography\/Oaklawn Park)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In each race at Oaklawn Racing and Gaming, a less-than-even-money favorite was edged out at the wire.<\/p>\n

Surprise Endings<\/h2>\n

In the first division, Improbable went off at 2-5 odds and appeared to survive two wide turns as he took the lead down the stretch. However, 8-1 shot Long Range Toddy rallied from fourth place in the final furlong to give the Bob Baffert-trained<\/a> colt his first loss in four races.<\/strong><\/p>\n

An hour later, another Baffert horse — Game Winner — went off as a 1-2 favorite. He and Omaha Beach separated themselves from the pack once they hit the stretch, with the Richard Mandella-trained colt leading by a couple of lengths before Game Winner made a late charge.<\/p>\n

The photo finish showed the 4-1 selection, making his stakes race debut, beating last year\u2019s Breeders\u2019 Cup Juvenile by a neck.<\/p>\n

\n

Both Long Range Toddy and Omaha Beach earned 37.5 points for their wins and likely secured their spots in the May 4 Kentucky Derby. Game Winner, who earned 15 points on Saturday, likely solidified his standing after winning 30 points last fall.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Futures Odds for Rebel Winners Improve<\/h2>\n

A week ago, Long Rage Toddy and Omaha Beach were considered longshots among the field of Derby contenders. However, their performances against the two horses who had been seen as the top selections in most futures pools have caused their odds to drop.<\/p>\n

Last week, Sportsbook.ag was offering Omaha Beach, who had only won once in his first five races, at 30-1. By Sunday, the colt\u2019s odds were listed at 8-1, making him the book\u2019s sixth choice. At William Hill\u2019s U.S. books, his odds went from 40-1 to 16-1 on Sunday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Long Range Toddy — a horse who had fared well previously at Oaklawn — fetched 75-1 odds last week at Sportsbook.ag. Now, it\u2019s down to 15-1 as of Sunday. Over at William Hill, he also dropped from 75-1 to 24-1.<\/p>\n

Even though both are almost assuredly in the field, the connections to the two horses have said they\u2019re expected to run in one more prep race before moving to Churchill Downs for the first leg in the Triple Crown.<\/p>\n

Long Range Toddy\u2019s handlers have him pointed to stay in Oaklawn and run the Arkansas Derby on April 13. Mandella was less certain about Omaha Beach, whose previous races had been at California tracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll just have to play it by ear,\u201d he told reporters after Saturday\u2019s victory. Mandella did tell Oaklawn he plans to ship the colt back to California this week.<\/p>\n

Handicappers Remain Bullish on Baffert Colts<\/h2>\n

While the odds changed drastically for the two Rebel winners, handicappers remained bullish on Baffert\u2019s two horses.<\/p>\n

Game Winner remained the 4-1 favorite at William Hill and the 11-4 first choice at Sportsbook.ag. Improbable\u2019s odds moved slightly, with William Hill bumping him to 6-1 from 5-1 and Sportsbook.ag raising him to 21-4 from 5-1.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jody Demling, a Louisville-based handicapper for Sportsline.com, noted Game Winner and Improbable didn\u2019t have the most ideal conditions to prepare for their races due to the unexpected closure at Santa Anita in California.<\/p>\n

With the circumstances, moving races at the last minute and traveling across country, I\u2019m not as disappointed with the two favorites, especially Game Winner,\u201d <\/span><\/strong>he told Casino.org<\/em>. <\/span>\u201cI\u2019d still say Game Winner is at the top for me right now, but it\u2019s close.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Other Derby contenders who saw their odds change included Instagrand and War of Will, who both went from 8-1 to 7-1 at William Hill. Roadster — another Baffert colt who has yet to run in a major prep race this year — is now at 12-1 at William Hill, who had him previously at 14-1.<\/p>\n

A couple of horses who lost in the first division of the Rebel saw their odds go up at William Hill. Galilean moved from 14-1 to 35-1 after his third-place finish Saturday, and Extra Hope, who was at 50-1, is now at 75-1 after fading to fourth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday was a big day on the road to the Kentucky Derby, as both divisions of the Rebel Stakes ended in dramatic fashion. In each race at Oaklawn Racing and Gaming, a less-than-even-money favorite was edged out at the wire. Surprise Endings In the first division, Improbable went off at 2-5 odds and appeared to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":100835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14577,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRace to Kentucky Derby Recap: Rebel Stakes Finishes at Oaklawn<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite Bob Baffert\u2019s colts failing to win either division of the Rebel Stakes on Saturday, they did not see their odds take a hit in Kentucky Derby futures betting.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Race to Kentucky Derby Recap: Rebel Stakes Finishes at Oaklawn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite Bob Baffert\u2019s colts failing to win either division of the Rebel Stakes on Saturday, they did not see their odds take a hit in Kentucky Derby futures betting.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-18T23:16:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-18T23:18:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Long-Range-Toddy-Jon-Court-Kentucky-Derby-prep.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/\",\"name\":\"Race to Kentucky Derby Recap: Rebel Stakes Finishes at Oaklawn\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Long-Range-Toddy-Jon-Court-Kentucky-Derby-prep.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-18T23:16:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-18T23:18:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"Despite Bob Baffert\u2019s colts failing to win either division of the Rebel Stakes on Saturday, they did not see their odds take a hit in Kentucky Derby futures betting.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Long-Range-Toddy-Jon-Court-Kentucky-Derby-prep.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Long-Range-Toddy-Jon-Court-Kentucky-Derby-prep.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":1024,\"caption\":\"Image: Coady Photography\/Oaklawn Park)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Horse Racing\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/horse-racing\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Race to Kentucky Derby Recap: Rebel Stakes Offers Fantastic Finishes at Weekend Oaklawn in Arkansas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\",\"name\":\"Steve Bittenbender\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Steve Bittenbender\"},\"description\":\"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Race to Kentucky Derby Recap: Rebel Stakes Finishes at Oaklawn","description":"Despite Bob Baffert\u2019s colts failing to win either division of the Rebel Stakes on Saturday, they did not see their odds take a hit in Kentucky Derby futures betting.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Race to Kentucky Derby Recap: Rebel Stakes Finishes at Oaklawn","og_description":"Despite Bob Baffert\u2019s colts failing to win either division of the Rebel Stakes on Saturday, they did not see their odds take a hit in Kentucky Derby futures betting.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-03-18T23:16:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-03-18T23:18:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Long-Range-Toddy-Jon-Court-Kentucky-Derby-prep.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Bittenbender","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Bittenbender","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/","name":"Race to Kentucky Derby Recap: Rebel Stakes Finishes at Oaklawn","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Long-Range-Toddy-Jon-Court-Kentucky-Derby-prep.jpg","datePublished":"2019-03-18T23:16:03+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-18T23:18:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2"},"description":"Despite Bob Baffert\u2019s colts failing to win either division of the Rebel Stakes on Saturday, they did not see their odds take a hit in Kentucky Derby futures betting.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Long-Range-Toddy-Jon-Court-Kentucky-Derby-prep.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Long-Range-Toddy-Jon-Court-Kentucky-Derby-prep.jpg","width":1280,"height":1024,"caption":"Image: Coady Photography\/Oaklawn Park)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/race-to-kentucky-derby-recap-rebel-stakes-finishes-at-oaklawn\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Horse Racing","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/horse-racing\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Race to Kentucky Derby Recap: Rebel Stakes Offers Fantastic Finishes at Weekend Oaklawn in Arkansas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2","name":"Steve Bittenbender","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","caption":"Steve Bittenbender"},"description":"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100829"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}