Blackout Time Targets Arkansas Derby After Fourth-Place Rebel Finish

Finishing fourth and beaten eight lengths is not the result Kenny McPeek or Lance Gasaway drew up for the Rebel Stakes. But the camp around Blackout Time is treating the March 1 performance as exactly what it was: a rust-buster for a colt who hadn't run since October.

Gasaway confirmed March 7 that the Not This Time colt will remain at Oaklawn Park and target the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby on March 28, skipping a return trip to Fair Grounds where the horse wintered. The math makes the decision straightforward. Blackout Time carries just 15 Kentucky Derby qualifying points and sits 26th on the Churchill Downs leaderboard, well outside the bubble of the 20-horse field. The Arkansas Derby distributes 200 points across the top five finishers on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale. A winning effort alone would vault him into serious contention.

Gasaway was candid about the Rebel, Blackout Time's first start since the Breeders' Futurity (G1) on Oct. 4 at Keeneland. "We knew he wouldn't be 100 percent," he said. "We thought, maybe, 85, 90 percent. He should have gotten a lot out of that. He drank a lot of water afterwards. Hey, regroup, right? We've just got to regroup and go again."

McPeek, for his part, is not treating the fourth-place finish as a red flag. "I think things are coming together really well this year for this horse," he said. "I think the best race is their third race off a layoff. If we can go Rebel and Arkansas Derby that sets him up perfectly. We got to get some points in the next two runs, but we're going over there pretty confident." McPeek also said he believes Blackout Time has "top-level talent" and a pedigree to match.

The colt's juvenile record supports that confidence. As a 2-year-old, Blackout Time went 1-for-3, but his maiden victory at Ellis Park on Aug. 2 was not close: he won by 9 3/4 lengths against 11 opponents in a race that produced five next-out winners.

Adding structure to the Arkansas Derby preparation is Robby Albarado, the retired two-time Oaklawn riding champion who regularly worked Blackout Time during last fall's campaign in Kentucky. Albarado has rejoined the colt as his morning exercise rider, a reunion Gasaway views as significant. "He'll be here the whole time," Gasaway said. "He will breeze him, he will gallop him, he will be on him every day."

The Gasaway-McPeek partnership carries relevant history at this exact spot on the calendar. In 2024, the duo ran Mystik Dan third in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn before the colt won the Kentucky Derby in his next start. McPeek is still seeking his first Arkansas Derby win; the route through Hot Springs to Churchill Downs is one he knows well.

With the Kentucky Derby field capped at 20 starters and the top 17 on the points list guaranteed entry, Blackout Time needs a substantial points haul over the next few weeks. The Arkansas Derby is the most direct path available, and the team at Oaklawn is building toward it with a horse they believe has not yet shown his best.