The Kentucky Derby trail visits Oaklawn Park on Sunday, February 23 for the Rebel Stakes (G2)! The race offers a colossal $1.25 million purse, the biggest at this phase of the Kentucky Derby trail. It also offers 50-25-15-10-5 qualifying points to the top five finishers, virtually guaranteeing its winner a ticket to the run for the roses! The Rebel is the third in Oaklawn’s series of Kentucky Derby points races, and serves as the local prep for the Arkansas Derby (G1) on March 29.
Note that the race was originally scheduled for Saturday, February 22. However, it was moved out one day due to a forecast of severe winter weather in Arkansas. Oaklawn rescheduled the entire Saturday card to Sunday without a redraw.
Many important horses have won the Rebel Stakes including Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, a California-based horse who started his sophomore season in the Rebel and went on to a Hall of Fame career.
Two star California horses are shipping out east for the Rebel in 2025, and both are in with a shot. Madaket Road, one of Bob Baffert’s deep stable of Kentucky Derby prospects, make the trip. So does Bullard, a graded-stakes winner at Del Mar last year for Michael McCarthy.
Keep on reading for expert picks and analysis of the 2025 edition of the Rebel Stakes, and to find out the best places to bet horse races online in California!
A trip to Hot Springs to relax at the spas and visit Oaklawn sounds excellent, but not all of us can drop everything to travel for this race. Fortunately, you can be a part of the action from California by betting on the Rebel Stakes at one of our recommended online racebooks!
Every one of our expert-vetted racebooks offers the basics: market-leading odds, trusted payouts, and a great online betting experience. Each one also offers exciting racebook bonuses that you’ll never find at the track like sign-up and deposit bonuses, referral benefits, and rebates that pay you in cash or betting credit for every wager you make. Taking a few minutes to find the best ones for you can help you build your bankroll by hundreds or even thousands of dollars!
Here are the best online racebooks for playing the races in California:
This is the official field for the 2025 Rebel Stakes including post positions, trainers, jockeys, and morning-line odds:
Keep in mind that the morning line can be a good guide to which horses are expected to take betting action on race day, but are no guarantee of odds at the track or an OTB location. Instead, those odds are liable to shift until the doors fling open.
Your best bet in the Rebel Stakes is to bet at an online racebook. Online racebooks not only offer better bonuses, but also often offer fixed-odds wagering on major horse races. That way, you can lock in your odds just by placing a wager on the race. So, when you see an overlay on your pick, place your bet and be confident on the odds you’ll get when you win!
These are the 2025 Rebel Stakes odds at the top of the market:
Now that you have set up your account and seen the field for the race, let’s delve a little deeper to find a winner!
Hypnus cedes experience to his foes in this, since he has only raced once, in a sloppy maiden race at Fair Grounds. However, he looked good in that outing, rallying and clearing off despite having an honest-but-not-fiery pace to close into. It also stands out that he is trained by Ken McPeek, who doesn’t tend to have his first-timers ready to go so hard. This bodes well for a step forward.
Sandman was a serious win candidate in the Southwest, and may well have been the best horse after he botched the break and came on running to finish a close second. The good news is, if he comes away better he should be able to track the pace and make a menacing run. The bad news is he’ll be a relatively short price in a competitive field, and last out was not the first time he had a rough break.
Between the two California shippers, Bullard appeals more. He was no factor last out in the San Vicente, but that was a one-turn race. He now steps up to two turns, something he should thrive over, for a barn that can win at a price with first-time routers. Trainer McCarthy is also one of the most crafty shipper trainers in the country, meaning if he put Bullard on the plane, we’re likely to see the reason why on race day.
Smarty Jones winner Coal Battle has a tough assignment from the fence. However, it appeals that he rallied to win the Springboard Mile two starts ago from a rail draw in a field of 12, meaning he can handle some chaos. He is versatile enough to run well from anywhere in the pack, and though he still has class questions to answer, he is consistent enough to trust for a piece.
Publisher got shut off in the lane last out in the Southwest, badly enough that the horse who impeded him was disqualified behind him. He was a 53-1 bomber that day, but between that and another Asmussen long shot Magnitude winning the Risen Star (G2) last week, the barn has some live long shots. This time he drew a nice gate, gets a rider upgrade to Flavien Prat, and should be rolling down the lane.
There is only one thing left to do before the 2025 Rebel Stakes on Sunday: place your bets! These are the best bets for Sunday’s 2025 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn:
California’s best horse race betting event of the year is the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar Racetrack. One of the classiest and most historic races of the Breeders’ Cup World […]
The most prestigious turf race in the world happens Sunday, October 6: the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, a Group 1, 1 ½-mile race at Longchamp. It draws the best […]
The third and final jewel of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, happens Saturday, June 8. Though the race traditionally covers 1 ½ miles on the dirt at Belmont Park, […]
If you like betting top horse races, there is no more exciting race to bet than the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 4 at Churchill Downs! With 20 of the […]
Leave a comment