2025 Rebel Stakes odds, horses, field: Racing insider offers best bets for the Kentucky Derby prep race
SportsLine racing analyst Michelle Yu offers her picks, wagers and analysis for Sunday's race at Oaklawn Park
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A spot in the 2025 Kentucky Derby will be on the line when 14 horses square off in the 2025 Rebel Stakes on Sunday at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. The race was originally scheduled for Saturday, was moved to Sunday due to weather. The Rebel Stakes, which was won by American Pharoah in 2015 en route to winning the Triple Crown, has regularly served as a key prep race for Derby. This year's winner will receive 50 Derby qualification points, essentially guaranteeing them a spot in the Churchill Downs starting gate on May 3. Sandman, a $1.2 million purchase last year, is the 4-1 favorite in the 2025 Rebel Stakes odds. Madaket Road (9-2), Bullard (5-1) and Speed King (6-1) round out the four top choices in the 14-horse 2025 Rebel Stakes field. Post time for the $1.25 million race is 6:23 p.m. ET.
With talented 3-year-olds set to enter the starting gate on Sunday, you'll want to see what Santa Anita-based racing reporter and insider Michelle Yu has to say before making any 2025 Rebel Stakes picks.
Few people in racing are as well-connected as Yu. An on-air host and reporter who has provided racing analysis for TVG, HRTV and the Breeders' Cup, Yu has spent a lifetime in racing. Prior to her television career, she worked for trainers Steve Asmussen and Ron Moquett. She also is married to Santa Anita-based trainer Ryan Hanson.
Yu also has tremendous handicapping chops. In a wide-open Kentucky Derby in 2021, she gave out Medina Spirit, who crossed the finish line first, as the winner at 12-1. In Pool 5 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager three years ago, she suggested a play on All Other 3-Year-Olds, which cashed at a whopping 18-1 when Rich Strike won the Derby.
Last year, she correctly called National Treasure to win the Pegasus World Cup, predicted Stronghold's upset win in the Santa Anita Derby and smashed the exacta in the Apple Blossom Handicap. On the Belmont Stakes undercard, she nailed National Treasure's win in the Met Mile and had the winner and exacta in the Woody Stephens Stakes. She closed out the year by hitting the exacta in the Breeders' Cup Classic, and she started off 2025 by correctly going all-in on Citizen Bull to win the Robert B. Lewis Stakes. Anyone who has followed her is way up.
For the 2025 Rebel Stakes, Yu has made her picks and constructed her bets. One surprise: Yu is high on Speed King, even though he's an underdog at 6-1. "He is a consistent performer and will need to step up if his rivals get clean trips," she told SportsLine. Yu is using Speed King in her wagers prominently.
Yu is especially high on a longshot who is "not a complete outsider at double-digit odds." She is including this horse in her 2025 Rebel Stakes bets, and so should you. You ABSOLUTELY need to see her picks before locking in any of your own.
So who wins the Rebel Stakes 2025? What double-digit longshot is a must-back? And how has Yu constructed her wagers? ... Join SportsLine right now to get Michelle Yu's 2025 Rebel Stakes picks, all from the racing insider who nailed the Breeders' Cup Classic!
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