Cupid shoots straight to score Rebel riches

Improving with every start, the lightly raced Cupid came to Arkansas from California as a newbie to stakes racing, but still an obvious threat in the Rebel Stakes. He leaves the state as a Grade 2 winner, and a horse poised to be in the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby seven weeks from today. The good looking gray son of Tapit made his way straight to the lead in the 14-horse field and never looked back on his way to a determined 1 1/4-length victory over Whitmore in the $900,000 feature. For his winning trainer, Bob Baffert, Cupid’s straight shot to the winner’s circle earned the Triple Crown winning conditioner his sixth victory in the Rebel in the last seven years.

Baffert’s amazing streak in the Rebel includes a pair of multiple Eclipse Award winners in Lookin at Lucky, who went on to win the Preakness, and of course, American Pharoah, who began his three-year-old season with a Rebel win before becoming the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years. While those two stars were proven commodities before arriving at Oaklawn Park, Cupid, fresh off an impressive maiden victory in his third try, came to Hot Springs needing to prove himself.

Breaking from an inside post at number three, Martin Garcia hustled the 5-2 second choice right to the lead. The show of speed demonstrated that Cupid was ready to run today, but with 13 horses bearing down on him, the task was not going to be an easy one to take the Rebel wire-to-wire. After having worked to gain the lead into the first turn with a quarter of :22.96, Cupid was able to slow down the pace as he cruised on the backstretch through :46.82 and 1:12.11, with Gray Sky now the closest to his 1 ½-length advantage. Meanwhile, Whitmore, who had been just a bit wide on the far turn, was making up ground from his early position of ninth.

Turning for home, Cupid cornered beautifully, while his main competition, Whitmore, moved even wider, after coming into the lane on the outside of the two leaders. While Whitmore went out, and then in, during the first half of the stretch, Cupid braced himself for the oncoming challenge. Whitmore looked like he might run right by in to what had boiled down to a two-horse race for the win in mid-stretch, but it was not to be. The Californian proved up to the test, and repelled the son of Pleasantly Perfect in convincing fashion.

“It’s hard for horses to break their maiden and then step up to this kind of company with this many people around and win, but he did,” said Garcia. “He’s still green. When we hit the top of the stretch, he got lonely and he locked in on the other horse that was coming up on the outside he responded one more time. He showed a lot of ability and we know he can run. He really proved today that he is improving. The distance doesn’t matter; he can go as far as he wants.”

Another improving son of Tapit, Creator closed well to finish third, while Cherry Wine and Suddenbreakingnews also rallied to claim fourth and fifth respectively. The latter was the post time favorite, and was hindered when blocked while commencing his rally.

Final time for the Rebel was 1:43.84 for the 8 ½ furlongs over the fast track. Cupid paid $7.80 for a $2 win ticket investment, while the exacta on top of the third choice returned $45.80.

The victory was Cupid’s second in a row, and raised his career record to 4-2-1-0. Owned by Tabor, Magnier, and Smith, the majority of his $587,500 in career earnings came from today’s raid on Arkansas. He also took home 50 Kentucky Derby points from Oaklawn, which all but assures him a spot in the Kentucky Derby, if healthy on the first Saturday in May. Look for Cupid to be back at Oaklawn Park on April 16 for the $1 million Arkansas Derby, where he will likely see Whitmore again.

Ron Moquett, trainer of the runner-up was sick with food poisoning, and apparently the result of the Rebel did nothing to improve his spirits. "I'm sick of Baffert,” said Moquett. “As bad as I felt all day and night, I'm more sick of Bob Baffert. That horse was able to get his second quarter in :24. These caliber of horses don't come back from that. When you're a $900,000 Tapit, bred to be what he is, they don't back up. You give them a 24-second quarter ... nobody went with him. I thought somebody would go with him.”