When Betemight Won the Rebel Stakes

you're listening to an article from canadian thoroughbred.com. when betemight won the rebel stakes by: jennifer morrison |. betemight, dark bay horse 1964. roman sandal (roman) – miss bernmagoo by bernborough. advertisement scroll to continue with content canadian-bred betemight is one of three colts from the north to have won the rebel stakes, a rich grade 2 dirt race at oaklawn park in hot springs, ark for horses making their way to the arkansas derby and kentucky derby. the 2025 rebel, worth $1.25 million, goes this weekend, sunday, february 23. when betemight won it, the race was only worth $10,000 and it was just the seventh running of the race. held at 1 mile and 70 yards on march 18, 1967, the rebel was not the kentucky derby prep race that it is today. the stretch-running betemight, owned at the time by breeders george holtsinger and co-owned by trainer doug davis jr., rallied to defeat favoured roman k. in a time of 1:40.80, a stakes record. betemight’s american owners offered the colt for sale since the big race for canadian-breds was coming up, the 108th queen’s plate. noel hickey of montreal bought betemight for what was then a whopping $55,000. sent to trainer jim bentley, betemight finished a pleasing second in the marine stakes at woodbine to none other than the brilliant cool reception. the flashy chestnut son of nearctic was the 1966 canadian champion two-year-old colt and virtually unbeatable on home turf. the 1967 plate, held in canada’s centennial year, looked to be a walk in the park for cool reception, but instead, trainer lou cavalaris sent the colt to new york and the belmont stakes. meeting the best american three-year-olds, cool reception ran his heart out to finish second to the great damascus, but broke a leg in the process and he was later euthanized. the plate field ended up being large, with a number of contenders in the field. bentley seemed confident in the laid-back betemight, according to reports in the local papers: ” “we should run away from the field.”. apprentice ron turcotte was riding betemight as the colt’s regular rider jim fitzsimmons elected to stay with conn smythe’s talented filly jammed lovely. and the lone filly in the field won the 1 1/4 mile race by a head over pine point with betemight back in sixth. betemight’s only win that year was in the rebel stakes. there were two other canadian-bred winners of the rebel. canadian legend sunny’s halo won the 1983 rebel for david foster and trainer dave cross. the son of halo went on to win the kentucky derby. in 1988, victory gallop, bred by tall oaks farm of ivan dalos, grabbed the rebel win by a head, eked out another win in the arkansas derby and then was second to real quiet in the kentucky derby. victory gallop went on to win the belmont stakes, spoiling real quiet’s triple crown sweep. victory gallop is the all-time leading sire in turkey. he has two-year-olds racing this year in his home country, and he will turn 30 on may 30.