Oaklawn allowance could serve as prep for Feb. 25 Rebel

Saturday’s seventh race at Oaklawn, a $103,000 entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds at 1 mile, could produce a starter for the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel Stakes Feb. 25. The 1 1/16-mile Rebel is Oaklawn’s third of four Kentucky Derby points races.

The allowance has drawn a field of seven, including 7-5 program favorite Gun Pilot, a Nov. 26 career debut winner at Churchill Downs for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen; Protege, who passed on the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) last Saturday at Oaklawn after the 11th-hour addition of eventual runaway winner Arabian Knight; and Bourbon Bash, who will make his 3-year-old debut for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

Bourbon Bash also was under consideration for the 1 1/16-mile Southwest, but Lukas opted to run Western Ghent. Bourbon Bash exits a third-place finish in the inaugural $150,000 Renaissance Stakes at 6 furlongs Dec. 31 at Oaklawn.

“I want to stretch Bourbon Bash out,” Lukas said. “He’s got a devastating kick and he’s bred to run (long), but we’ve mismanaged him in a lot of ways, sprinting and blowing through them.”

From the first crop of 2018 Oaklawn Handicap winner City of Light, Bourbon Bash broke his maiden by eight front-running lengths sprinting last August at Saratoga. In his only two-turn race, Bourbon Bash finished 12th in the $600,000 Breeders’ Futurity Stakes (G1) at 1 1/16 miles Oct. 8 at Keeneland.

Gun Pilot, in his 3-year-old and two-turn debut, finished second to Rebel candidate Verifying in a 1-mile entry-level allowance race Jan. 14 at Oaklawn. Protege, in his two-turn debut, exits a third-place finish behind Hit Show in a 1-mile entry-level allowance Dec. 17 at Oaklawn for trainer Ron Moquett of Hot Springs.

Hit Show was entered in the Southwest but rerouted to the $250,000 Withers Stakes (G3) at 1 1/8 miles Saturday at Aqueduct. That race has been postponed to Feb. 11 because of winter weather.

Probable post time for Saturday’s seventh race is 4:38 p.m. EST.