2/22/2025

  3  OP   The Rebel (GII)  [KYD]           

   $1,250.000     1^1/16th  Mile   Dirt        3yo      122lbs

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The interest grows, the field grows, the purse grows… and it’s only February.  The chocolates are eaten, the snowstorms are still coming but we need to turn up the heat as a field of fourteen is set to go a mile and a sixteenth in The Rebel (GII) the keystone of the OP TC preps, and boy oh boy, did we get a nice field for this one.

So, my first question is… can we all agree that Daemon is a heck of a horse?  I keep picking him, he keeps winning and the double-digit odds just dumbfound me.  But, who cares, he’s my top choice today and with those four consecutive wins, three of them graded wins including the Pharoa (GI) at SA, the BC Juv (GI) and the Lecomte (GIII) at the FG, he just keeps getting the job done.  Yet at odds of 11/1, 19/1 and 14/1, it is something to behold. 

If I’m head over head in love with that one, where do we go for the rest of the ticket?  My top choice come from the Alydar Stables, let’s put Alydar in the second spot as the D J C Racing Stables colt has been tough in both races since shooting a dud in the BC Juv Turf (GI) and getting away from the green stuff (can you imagine, Alydar on the grass?) he’s been very solid and I think he gets a piece of this one.

I’ll give some love to the man of 9, a look for Decal to run a big race today.  This one has run some real duds like the KD Juv (soft turf is not the answer) and the BC Juv (GI) but he got in trouble in that race, but’s also won some big races including the SAR Special (GII) and Breeders Futurity (GI).  I like that Southwest (GIII) race, although speed may have been a killer in that one, so let’s see what we get today. 

Here’s The Field –

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1		Mandible Claw		Mb Stables		Moore R L		122		12/1
2		Tube		Williams9		Prat F		122		6/1
3		Daemon		Alydar Stables		Velazquez J R		122		8/5
4		Hazardous		Mb Stables		Davis D		122		12/1
5		Red Font		Wood Duck Stables		Hernandez R M		122		8/1
6		Decal		Williams9		Gallardo A A		122		7/1
7		Roger That Chappy		Rock Creek		Husbands P		122		10/1
8		Fawkes		Delta Farms		Pennington F		122		20/1
9		Link Wray		South Shore Stables		Corrales G		122		6/1
10		Edged Out		TwinTowersRacing		Smith M E		122		10/1
11		Alydar		D J C Racing Stables		Lopez P		122		7/2
12		Doubting Indian		Nakamura Stables		Elliott S		122		8/1
13		Straight Cash Homie		Mb Stables		Franco M		122		10/1
14		Black Swan Event		Team 7 Illusions		Ferrer J C		122		10/1

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COZMAN  3 / 11 / 6      Willie’s Green Card  3 / 9 / 11      

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