'It's crazy' - one-eyed horse springs 75-1 shock to book Kentucky Derby spot

Saturday: Oaklawn Park

Un Ojo, a one-eyed gelding, pulled off a stunning 75-1 surprise in the $1 million Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas on Saturday to earn himself a place in the Kentucky Derby.

Rallying along the rail in dark, rainy conditions, Un Ojo, which means one eye in Spanish, passed fellow longshot Ethereal Road in the final strides to win the Rebel by half a length.

"It's crazy," said trainer Ricky Courville, who collected his first graded stakes since he took out his licence in 2008.

Rebel Stakes result

Betting on the Rebel painted the race as yet another showcase for Newgrange, who came in undefeated for eight-time Rebel-winning trainer Bob Baffert and was a 4-5 favourite. Having pressed the early pace, Newgrange came up empty in the stretch and faded to sixth in the field of 11.

"I thought he was in a good spot. When the running started, he didn't have it today. But that happens," Baffert said. "He didn't show up today. I really can't think of any excuses."

Un Ojo was trained in New York by Tony Dutrow for his two starts there before he returned to Courville, who trained the gelding in his first three starts, for the Rebel.

"It's kind of shared between me and Tony because I sent him to Tony, to Aqueduct, for the winter and Tony had him until Monday and sent him back to us," Courville said.

"Gosh, I feel bad for Tony. The owners kind of decided [on the Rebel]. I think Tony was wanting to keep him up there for the Gotham Stakes, but they wanted to not go back to a one-turn mile and wanted to send him down here and take a shot at the money. He kept saying the two turns is going to be better for us."

With 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points going to the winner, Un Ojo earned his ticket to Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May while taking over second in the points race.

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