Is he 'the one'? Casse sends Curlin's Honor to Rebel Stakes

John Oxley and Breeze Easy’s undefeated Curlin’s Honor will make his first start in stakes company and first beyond six furlongs in Saturday's Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles.

The son of 2007 Rebel and Arkansas Derby (G2) winner and Hall of Famer Curlin was scheduled to ship on Thursday from Fair Grounds where he won an allowance race on Feb. 25. In his only other start, Curlin’s Honor won a Keeneland maiden race on Oct. 7.

“There are not a whole lot of (allowance race) options for (three-year-olds) that have won two races so you have to go in a stakes,” trainer Mark Casse said Wednesday from the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. auction in Florida. “Timing wise and distance wise, the Rebel is the best choice. And you never give up hope that this could be ‘the one.’ If he is to have any shot at the Kentucky Derby, he needs to run in this spot.”

Curlin’s Honor will be ridden for the first time by Florent Geroux, the nation’s leading jockey in purse earnings this year.

“We’ve had a lot of luck with Florent and we are extremely happy to have him,” Casse said.

The trainer first became interested in Curlin’s Honor at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale in Lexington, Ky. He was the underbidder when the colt sold for $475,000.

“Mr. Oxley was out of the country that day so I was flying solo,” Casse said. “Had I been able to get in touch with him, we might have bid a little more.”

Casse watched Curlin’s Honor train throughout that winter in Florida and liked what he was seeing. When the chestnut resurfaced at the Fasig-Tipton sale of two-year-olds in Timonium, Maryland in May, Oxley and Breeze Easy were the winning bidders at $1.5-million, a record for that auction. 

Casse said the team opted to point to an autumn debut to allow Curlin’s Honor to overcome sore shins and to mature further. He noted that offspring of Curlin often require extra time to develop. Curlin himself did not make his first start until he was three and won the Rebel in just his second career race.