What to watch for: Azeri leads star-studded Rebel undercard

Between a possible split of a Kentucky Derby prep and a loaded undercard feature for older fillies and mares, Oaklawn Park will take center stage this weekend. Here’s what we’ll be watching for:

Quartet of Grade 1 winners point to Azeri

Saturday’s Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri Stakes received an exciting addition Monday afternoon when it was announced that Elate will return from a seven-month layoff in Oaklawn’s local prep for the April 14 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1). The 5-year-old daughter of Medaglia d'Oro will likely face three 4-year-old fillies who have also earned Grade 1 status: Midnight Bisou, Shamrock Rose and Eskimo Kisses.

Midnight Bisou, who has never finished off the board in 12 starts, got underway this season with a win in the Jan. 27 Houston Ladies Classic (G3). The Steve Asmussen has faced champion Monomoy Girl four times, coming away with a win in the Cotillion Stakes (G1) when stewards ruled Monomoy Girl, who crossed the wire a neck in front, caused interference in the stretch. Midnight Bisou also won the Mother Goose Stakes (G2) and Santa Anita Oaks (G1) earlier in her 3-year-old season.

Champion Shamrock Rose’s biggest victories came at seven furlongs in Keeneland’s Raven Run Stakes (G2) and the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, but trainer Mark Casse said back in November, “We kind of feel like her best race is two turns.”

The Azeri is run at 1 1/16 miles, and Shamrock Rose won at that distance when she took Woodbine’s La Lorgnette Stakes over the Tapeta track back in September. She made her season debut on the Pegasus World Cup undercard sprinting in the Hurricane Bertie Stakes (G3), finishing fourth in the slop.

Eskimo Kisses will make the trip from trainer Kenny McPeek’s Payson Park string in Florida. The filly tested older foes during Keeneland’s October meet in the Spinster Stakes (G1) but failed to kick on and finished seventh as the favorite. The Azeri will mark her first race back.

McPeek said the Azeri makes for a good return spot for Eskimo Kisses given there’s no two-turn stakes races available in Florida for her.

“This is going to tell us whether she deserves to be in the Apple Blossom,” he said. “If she doesn’t run well in the Azeri, then we’ve got a couple of other options.”

Should these fillies move on from Saturday’s race, Monomoy Girl could be waiting in the Apple Blossom for her own 4-year-old debut.

Triple Crown implications in Private Terms

The colt to beat in Laurel Park’s $100,000 Private Terms is local trainee Alwaysmining. Based at nearby Fair Hill with trainer Kelly Rubley, Alwaysmining has won four consecutive Laurel races – three of them stakes – and will make his two-turn debut Saturday.

“This looks like the most logical spot to try,” Rubley said. “We don’t have to ship and we get to see how he handles it in a nice, safe environment that he loves.”

The Private Terms is run at 1 1/16 miles and leads up to the April 20 Federico Tesio Stakes, a local ‘Win and You’re In’ for the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.

Trainer Greg Sacco will likely send Joevia, runner-up to Haikal in the Feb. 9 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes, from New York to the Private Terms. Joevia had been away since winning on debut at Monmouth Park in July and lost by a neck in his return.

Haikal went on to win the Gotham Stakes (G3) over the weekend and earn 50 points toward the Kentucky Derby. A solid run in the Private Terms could place Joevia in one of the final major points-paying Derby preps.

“We were looking for an a-other-than,” Sacco said of Joevia’s return. “With the timing, it wasn’t there in New York, and we didn’t want to ship in from New York to run, so the Jimmy Winkfield wasn’t exactly the place we wanted to start, but we knew his talent and he really ran dynamite against a couple horses that were coming off some big wins. We were very pleased with that effort and now we just hope he moves forward in his next race with natural progression.”

Should Joevia hit the Kentucky Derby trail, Sacco said Keeneland’s Blue Grass Stakes (G2) on April 6 is the likely spot, with points on a 100-40-20-10 scale.

Two Rebel Stakes?

At last update, Oaklawn Park was on pace to have at least 20 horses enter the Rebel Stakes (G2), the magic number when it comes to splitting the Derby prep into two divisions.

If run in multiple flights, the original $1 million single-race purse would up to two $750,000 purses, and Derby qualifying points would pay out at 75 percent of the original value: on a 37.5, 15, 7.5 and 3.75 scale to the first four finishers.

With Santa Anita Park's San Felipe (G2) canceled, all the headliners are coming from the West. Bob Baffert plans to ship Game Winner and Improbable on a Wednesday flight to Hot Springs, Ark., joined by Gunmetal Gray, Galilean, Extra Hope and Omaha Beach.

Oaklawn’s Media Relations Manager, Jennifer Hoyt, said that should the Rebel split, horses with like owners and trainers would be placed in separate divisions before the field is randomly drawn.

In addition to the Rebel and Azeri, Oaklawn will on Saturday card the Essex, a $350,000 stakes at 1 1/16 miles for older horses that leads to the April 13 Oaklawn Handicap (G2).