American Pharoah wins Rebel to gain in ‘Road to the Kentucky Derby’

Louisville, KY (SportsNetwork.com) – Champion colt American Pharoah easily defeated six rivals in Saturday’s Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park to advance into the fifth spot in the “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points system.

Trained by Bob Baffert for Zayat Stables, American Pharoah posted a 6 1/4- length win in the 1 1/16-mile Rebel and gained 50 points for a total of 60 toward a place in the 20-horse starting field for the Kentucky Derby on May 2.

“It wasn’t really taxing on him. It turned out all right. He didn’t have to go too fast early,” Baffert said about American Pharoah’s 2015 debut effort.

Gotham Stakes winner El Kabeir leads the rankings with 75 points followed in the top 10 by Risen Star winner International Star (71), San Felipe champ Dortmund (70) and Tampa Bay Derby winner Carpe Diem (64).

Falling in behind American Pharoah are Fountain of Youth winner Itsaknockout (50), Fountain of Youth runner-up Upstart (36), Risen Star runner-up War Story (24), Southwest Stakes winner Far Right (22), Rebel runner-up Madefromlucky (20), Tampa Bay runner-up Ami’s Flatter (20) and San Felipe runner-up Prospect Park (20).

Saturday at Turfway Park will be the $550,000 Spiral Stakes and Sunday will be the $800,000 Sunland Derby at Sunland Park. Both 1 1/8-mile races offer 50 points to the winning 3-year-old with the next three under the wire receiving 20, 10 and 5 points, respectively.

Categorized in: Horses