Lukas 'really pleased' with Rebel contender Sporting Chance
Grade 1 winner Sporting Chance has returned to the track to begin preparations for his scheduled start in Oaklawn Park's Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel Stakes on March 17, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Saturday morning.
Sporting Chance, in his 3-year-old and two-turn debut, finished a troubled third in Monday’s $500,000 Southwest Stakes (G3), Oaklawn’s second of four major preps for the Kentucky Derby.
Making his first start since winning the $350,000 Hopeful Stakes (G1) Sept. 4 at Saratoga, Sporting Chance was beaten seven lengths by a ground-saving My Boy Jack in the 1 1/16-mile Southwest, which was run over a muddy track.
“It was good, coming off the layoff,” Lukas said. “We only started training him Dec. 10. I was really pleased.”
Lukas noted the trouble Sporting Chance and jockey Luis Saez encountered approaching the eighth pole, when they were squeezed by Combatant on the outside and Mourinho, a tiring front-runner, on the inside.
Sporting Challenge rallied from fourth in the final sixteenth of a mile to nip Mourinho for third, 2 ½ lengths behind runner-up Combatant. There was a stewards’ inquiry into the stretch run, but no change in the order of finish.
“He recovered, but for them to look at that and not think that he was impeded in his progress, when he was making his move, is ridiculous,” Lukas said. “They broke his momentum. It was obvious.”
Lukas said Sporting Chance was where he needed to be in the Southwest, stalking Mourinho along the inside, which yielded winner after winner on Monday’s 10-race card, before shifting out a path turning for home.
“He was placed well,” Lukas said. “The way the race turned out, I guess, if Luis would have stayed on the rail, it would have really made a difference. He had the rail. He was inside there, and I think he thought he might get trapped, so he angled out. But had he stayed inside, he might have been really been prominently placed, and he would have probably avoided the traffic problem, too. I mean, that’s race riding. What the hell?”
Lukas said he could breeze Sporting Chance three times in advance of the 1 1/16-mile Rebel, which will offer 85 points to the top four finishers (50-20-10-5) toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby. The Southwest was a 17-point race (10-4-2-1).
“Going to be a lot tighter in the Rebel,” Lukas said. “A lot tighter, having that race underneath his belt.”
The Rebel is the final major local prep for the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) April 14.
Lukas has two other prospects on the Kentucky Derby trail.
Bravazo, a Jan. 13 entry-level allowance/optional claiming winner at Oaklawn, is pointing for the $1 million Louisiana Derby (G2) March 24 at Fair Grounds, Lukas said. Bravazo secured a starting spot in the Kentucky Derby with his victory in last Saturday’s $400,000 Risen Star Stakes (G2) at Fair Grounds.
Bravazo, who races for Calumet Farm, ranks No. 1 on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 54 points. The Kentucky Derby is limited to 20 starters, with points earned in designated races like the Southwest and Rebel used to determine starting preference if the race overfills.
Sporting Chance ranks 26th with two points, according to a news release Monday from Churchill Downs.
Lukas said he plans to run Transgress, a sharp maiden specials weights graduate Jan. 13 at Oaklawn, in the $800,000 Sunland Derby (G3) March 25 at Sunland Park. Transgress finished second, beaten a neck, in a first-level allowance/optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles Monday.
Sporting Chance, a son of 2000 Horse of the Year Tiznow, and Transgress are owned by Lukas’ longtime clients, Robert Baker and William Mack.