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The number of horses locking up a spot in the 2013 Kentucky Derby increased by one on Saturday afternoon as long shot Will Take Charge punched his ticket to Louisville with slim victory over Oxbow in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park. Den's Legacy rallied to finish third while Texas Bling rounded out the superfecta.
Post time favorite Super Ninety Nine stalked the early speed of Title Contender through moderate fractions of 23.36 and 47.19 for the opening half mile. The favorite took command of the race on the far turn but Oxbow immediately moved to the front and appeared to quickly put away Super Ninety Nine at the top of the stretch. At about the midway point of the stretch, Oxbow's stride began to shorten and Will Take Charge kept reducing his lead with every stride, finally nipping Oxbow withing the shadow of the wire.
The Rebel Stakes is part of the official Road to the Kentucky Derby prep race series. The top four finishers in the race earned 50, 20, 10 and 5 points, respectively, towards a spot in the starting gate at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.
Will Take Charge is a three-year-old colt by Unbridled's Song out of a Dehere mare (Take Charge Lady), trained by D. Wayne Lukas and ridden by John Court. Ironically, John Court rode Oxbow in his last two races but was taken off Oxbow mount and replaced by Mike Smith prior to the Rebel.
In the race immediately preceding the Rebel, Tiz Miz Sue upset heavily favored My Miss Aurelia to win the Grade 2 Azeri Stakes.
Below are the payouts, fractions and internal splits for the Rebel Stakes:
| Horse | Win | Place | Show |
| 7-Will Take Charge | $58.00 | $16.20 | $9.80 |
| 9-Oxbow | $7.80 | $5.60 | |
| 6-Den's Legacy | $6.00 |
| Base | Bet | Combo | Payout | Pays to - |
| $1.00 | Exacta | 7/9 | $137.90 | |
| $0.50 | Trifecta | 7/9/6 | $581.15 | |
| $0.10 | Superfecta | 7/9/6/3 | $1,764.80 |
| Distance | Fraction | Internal |
| 1/4: | 23.36 | 23.36 |
| 1/2: | 47.19 | 23.83 |
| 3/4: | 1:12.39 | 25.20 |
| Mile: | 1:38.44 | 26.05 |
| Finish: | 1:45.18 | 6.74 |
And below is the updated Kentucky Derby points leaderboard, according to KentuckyDerby.com:
| Rank | Horse | Points | Trainer |
| 1 | Will Take Charge | 60 | D. Wayne Lukas |
| 2 | Vyjack | 50 | Rudy Rodriguez |
| Orb | 50 | Shug McGaughey III | |
| Verrazano | 50 | Todd Pletcher | |
| Hear the Ghost | 50 | Jerry Hollendorfer | |
| 6 | Oxbow | 36 | D. Wayne Lukas |
| 7 | Flashback | 30 | Bob Baffert |
| 8 | Goldencents | 29 | Doug O'Neill |
| 9 | Shanghai Bobby | 24 | Todd Pletcher |
| 10 | Java's War | 22 | Ken McPeek |
| 11 | Den's Legacy | 20 | Bob Baffert |
| Falling Sky | 20 | John Terranova II | |
| West Hills Giant | 20 | John Terranova II | |
| Code West | 20 | Bob Baffert | |
| 15 | Dynamic Sky | 13 | Mark Casse |
| 16 | Speak Logistics | 11 | Eddie Plesa Jr. |
| 17 | Itsmyluckyday | 10 | Eddie Plesa Jr. |
| Overanalyze | 10 | Todd Pletcher | |
| Uncaptured | 10 | Mark Casse | |
| Super Ninety Nine | 10 | Bob Baffert | |
| Power Broker | 10 | Bob Baffert | |
| Revolutionary | 10 | Todd Pletcher | |
| Elnaawi | 10 | Kiaran McLaughlin | |
| Palace Malice | 10 | Todd Pletcher | |
| Tiz a Minister | 10 | Paul Aguirre | |
| 26 | Texas Bling | 9 | Danele Durham |
| 27 | Siete de Oros | 7 | Ramon Preciado |
| 28 | He's Had Enough | 6 | Doug O'Neill |
| Fear the Kitten | 6 | Mike Maker | |
| 30 | Tesseron | 5 | Josie Carroll |
| 31 | Capo Bastone | 4 | Todd Pletcher |
| Normandy Invasion | 4 | Chad Brown | |
| Golden Soul | 4 | Dallas Stewart | |
| Escapefromreality | 4 | Dominick Schettino | |
| Frac Daddy | 4 | Ken McPeek | |
| 36 | Fortify | 3 | Mahmood Al Zarooni |
| 37 | Mylute | 2 | Tom Amoss |
| Carving | 2 | Bob Baffert | |
| Clearly Now | 2 | Brian Lynch | |
| Heaven's Runway | 2 | Joseph Martin | |
| My Name Is Michael | 2 | Bill Mott | |
| Always in a Tiz | 2 | Dominick Schettino | |
| Delhomme | 2 | Todd Pletcher | |
| Dewey Square | 2 | Dale Romans | |
| Manando | 2 | Bob Baffert | |
| 46 | Pataky Kid | 1 | Tom Proctor |
| Amerigo Vespucci | 1 | Timothy Tullock Jr. | |
| Dry Summer | 1 | Jeff Mullins | |
| Joshua's Comprise | 1 | Barry Rose | |
| Quinzieme Monarque | 1 | Tom Albertrani | |
| Channel Isle | 1 | D. Wayne Lukas | |
| Little Jerry | 1 | Richard Baltas |