Hall of Fame trainers Bob Baffert and Mark Casse both would have liked to win the Rebel last weekend at Oaklawn Park, but they were quick to tip their hats to Lonnie Briley, the 72-year-old who celebrated the biggest win of his career with Coal Battle.
“I was happy for him,” said Baffert, who finished second with Madaket Road. “He was so excited to have a horse like that.”
Casse expressed the same sportsmanship towards Briley.
“I guess if we were going to lose to anybody, it was nice to see Lonnie win,” said Casse, who ran third with Sandman.
Baffert said Madaket Road was traveling back to Southern California on Tuesday and that plans going forward will be determined. Madaket Road set the pace in the Rebel under Irad Ortiz Jr. He took the field through fractions of 22.47 seconds for the opening quarter, 45.72 for the half-mile, and 1:10.94 for six furlongs in the 1 1/16-mile race before finishing 1 1/4 lengths behind Coal Battle.
“I told [Irad] to just let him run away from there,” Baffert said. “I was hoping for a little 46 and 4 at the half-mile and I saw 45 and I went, ‘uh-oh.’ But he was doing it easy. He’s a good horse. Then the winner got to him really quick, that little horse came to us, and he tried to fight back. He gave a little try, just not enough.
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“I was really proud of his effort. I was very happy the way he ran. Pace makes the race and he just went a little fast. I think Irad rode a great race. It just didn’t work out.”
Sandman closed from ninth under jockey Cristian Torres, finishing a half-length behind Madaket Road.
“I think there was a little bit of a speed bias and we were actually hoping to be a little closer than we were,” Casse said. “About 100 yards out of the gate [a rival] came over and kind of got in our way and made us have to kind of settle and we ended up like 12, 15 lengths back. We wanted to be about five.”
Sandman advanced from there, and came five wide into the stretch.
“He was making a run and he kind of got stuck and Cristian had to take hold of him and move him out,” Casse said. “I think his performance, only getting beat a couple of lengths, I came out of it feeling as good, if not better, than from his last start.
“He closed on a track that wasn’t easy to close on. So, I thought there were big positives. I think anybody would say that he probably should improve with more ground and that’s what we’re looking for at this time of year.”
Casse said plans are to target the Arkansas Derby, a 1 1/8-mile race March 29 at Sandman’s winter base of Oaklawn.
"He loves it there,” said Casse.
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