Friday, October 10, 2008

REBELLION, GLOBAL HUNTER AT HEAD OF CLASS IN SUNDAY’S LURE

ARCADIA, Calif. (Oct. 9, 2008) – After racing in seven and six straight graded stakes races, respectively, British-bred Rebellion and Argentine-conceived Global Hunter would appear to have a decided class advantage among eleven entrants Sunday in Oak Tree’s $75,000 Lure Stakes at one mile over Santa Anita’s turf course.

Trained by H. Graham Motion for Hickory Tree Stable, Rebellion drew post position No. 10 and will be partnered by Rafael Bejarano, who was aboard when the bay 5-year-old took Hollywood Park’s Grade III Ack Ack Handicap in June. Rebellion previously had won the Grade II Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland.


Both of those victories were achieved over synthetic surfaces, but the 2006 import seems equally at home over grass or synthetics. Rebellion’s overall record is 7-3-4 in 19 starts for earnings of $540,117. He has won 3 of 10 starts on turf.

Global Hunter is coming off solid one-mile turf efforts in a pair of Grade II events. He ran third, one length from winning the Del Mar Mile prior to a close fourth-place finish behind Hyperbaric in the Oak Tree Mile Handicap on Sept. 28.

The 5-year-old bay, however, is winless in six races, either Grade I or Grade II stakes, in the United States. He finished sixth, while Rebellion checked in fifth in the Grade II San Diego Handicap on July 19, a race over Del Mar’s Polytrack synthetic surface.

Jose Valdivia Jr., aboard for Global Hunter’s last two starts, has the call atop the horse trained by A. C. Avila for L-Bo Racing and Monte Pyle. He drew post No. 4. Global Hunter’s overall record is 5-1-7 from 19 starts with earnings of $155,600.

The sole Grade I winner in the lineup is Lang Field, who captured Hollywood Park’s Citation Handicap last November at odds of 18-1. Regular rider Jon Court will handle the 5-year-old gray gelding who has banked $476,807 from a 7-4-3 mark in 25 lifetime starts. The field’s 124-pound high weight will break from the rail.

Lang Field was taken for $30,000 out of a maiden claimer at Churchill Downs on July 4, 2006. Art Sherman, who trains the Langfuhr offspring for Nigel R. Shields, says that Lang Field did not take to Del Mar’s Polytrack surface in his last start on Sept. 1.

“He didn’t seem to get a hold of the surface there as good as I thought he might,” said Sherman of the seventh-place finish in the Windy Sands Handicap. The trainer said Lang Field has had “a couple of very good works at Hollywood Park” in the interim. The bulk of his earnings, $376,382, have been gained over grass where Lang Field’s record is 4-1-2 in 12 races.

The complete field for the Lure Stakes, with jockeys and weights in post position order: Lang Field, Jon Court, 124; Mr Napper Tandy, Garrett Gomez, 118; Frank the Barber, Martin Pedroza, 118; Global Hunter, Jose Valdivia Jr., 118; Pistol Pete Afleet, Luis Contreras, 116; Matto Mondo, Mike Smith, 118; Sadler’s Trick, Michael Baze, 118; Men’s Magazine, Joseph Talamo, 118; Vauquelin, Joel Rosario, 118; Rebellion, Rafael Bejarano, 122, and Bonjour, Martin Garcia, 118.

Men’s Magazine is a 4-year-old Italian-bred who won his only three starts in Italy in 2006 before being purchased by Sid and Jenny Craig and turned over to Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally. A series of infirmities, none of them serious, according to McAnally, has kept the bay colt on the sidelines.

He is a son of Dr Devious, whom Jenny Craig purchased for $2.5 million in 1992 on her husband’s 60th birthday in hopes of winning the Kentucky Derby. Dr Devious finished seventh in the Run for the Roses, but later won England’s Epsom Derby. Sid Craig, meantime, succumbed to a lengthy bout with cancer last July 21. Men’s Magazine now races for the Craig Family Trust.

The 4th running of the Lure Stakes will be contested as the eight race on a nine-race program. First post is at 12:30 p.m.

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