(Silent Tactic / Photo by Coady Media)

The Link to the Updated Rankings — To Be Posted This Afternoon…

The G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes will be held this coming Saturday at Gulfstream Park, and, normally, it is just a prep race for the G1 Florida Derby, which is the highlight of the Championship Meet in South Florida.

The G2 Rebel Stakes will be held this coming Saturday at Oaklawn Park, and, normally, it, too, is just a prep for the G1 Arkansas Derby, which is the highlight of the tremendous program set up at Hot Springs, AR.

Both the Fountain of Youth and the Rebel have always been preps for bigger preps. Tests for bigger tests. Stepping stones to bigger rocks.

In the past, the FOY and the Rebel have always been consider good races, mind you.

But never, quite never, have they been considered “The Races.”

But this year?

This year, the FOY may be considered a prime race.

This year, the Rebel may be considered a prime race.

This year, they both may be considered “The Races.”

After all…

This year — which started out with the prohibitive Kentucky Derby favorite and 2YO Champion, Ted Noffey — being declared off the “Road to the Kentucky Derby,” due to some bone bruising, every single race for the 3YOs now seems to have added significance in helping all of us determine who is a legitimate threat to move on and move up.

This year, which is already at the end of February and the Derby fast approaching for the first weekend in May, we are still trying to find what horses are going to get in; be in. We are still trying to determine what horses are good enough to maybe become great enough. We are still hunting and looking; searching and, maybe, finding our top candidates to win the biggest race of their respective lives and capture the glory of the Run for the Roses.

This year — still — we are looking.

And, this Saturday, we will be looking hard.

This Saturday, we hope we are identifying the contenders; eliminating the pretenders.

This Saturday is big.

The G2 Rebel Stakes will have a field of 10 top 3YOs — including 3 that are in our current and most recently updated Kentucky Derby Rankings. They are:

Litmus Test (14th in our rankings this week) — who will break from #2 post with jockey Flavien Prat.

Blackout Time (9th in our rankings this week)  — who will break from #4 post with jockey Brian Hernandez.

Silent Tactic (4th in our rankings this week) — who will break from #7 post with jockey Cristen Torres.

The G2 Fountain of Youth could be even more telling and earthquake-like for our rankings. It has a field of 11 slated to go postward on Saturday and that field will include 4 horses that we currently have ranked. They are:

Jackson Hole (19th in our rankings this week) — who will break from the rail with Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez.

Commandment (9th in our rankings) — who will break from the #4 hole with rider Irad Ortiz, Jr.

Napoleon Solo (13th in our rankings) — who will pop from post #7 with rider Kendrick Carmouche.

Solitude Dude (14th in our rankings) — who will come out of the #10 hole with rider Flavien Prat.

So, in short, we have 7 horses that are currently ranked going into Saturday’s top 2 Stakes for the 3YO colts.

Some of them are likely to move up.

Some of them are likely to move on.

Hopefully, we will have a better idea.

On who is which, and which is who.

Stay tuned.