A Dash of Sign a main player in rich Remington Park Oklahoma-Bred Futurity

A Dash of Sign, who starts in Saturday’s $891,900 Remington Park Oklahoma-Bred Futurity, is one of seven 2-year-old winners trained by Mike Robbins since the start of March.

The stable has won four maiden races with as many starters at Los Alamitos this month, where Robbins is based, and three futurity time trials at Remington Park, where the stable is directed by assistant Cody Noel.

A Dash of Sign won a division of the Remington Park Oklahoma-Bred Futurity trials at 330 yards on April 3 in 16.72 seconds, good enough for the fourth-fastest final time of the evening’s trials. The five fastest times from the April 3 and April 4 trials have formed the field of 10 for Saturday’s lucrative final.

A Dash of Sign’s one-length win in the time trial has left Robbins encouraged about the filly’s chances in the final.

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“She’s on the upswing and improving all the time,” Robbins said. “She’s doing like you want them to do. I think we can be right there.”

Robbins tempered his confidence slightly when he mentioned the competition, namely the undefeated filly Dalts Fancy Pistol, who won a division of the time trials on April 4 in 16.57, the fastest of the trials.

Trained by Guillermo Valdivia for owners and breeders Larry Thompson and Don Anthony, Dalts Fancy Pistol won her time trial by 1 3/4 lengths. She won a maiden special weight race at 250 yards in her debut March 8.

Dalts Fancy Pistol is expected to go favored. A Dash of Sign and the undefeated Eye Work for You, who won a time trial April 3 in 16.66, will be well-supported.

The Remington Park Oklahoma-Bred Futurity is the ninth race on a 10-race program that begins at 7 p.m. Eastern, or 6 p.m. Central. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

Dalts Fancy Pistol and A Dash of Sign are two of three fillies in the final along with First Lucy Lark, who won a division of the trials in 16.69 on April 3. Of the three, A Dash of Sign has the highest draw, in post 9, which Robbins said could be a slight advantage.

“You don’t have to stand in there as long,” he said of the starting gate. “The chances of getting smacked around is pretty slim. With 2-year-olds, they usually drift in. I like that draw. She’s a good gate horse.”

A Dash of Sign, by Tempting Dash, was purchased for $125,000 at the Ruidoso select yearling sale last September. A Dash of Sign is out of A Tres of Paint, who was ninth in the 2015 Remington Park Oklahoma-Bred Futurity and won the Remington Park Oklahoma-Bred Derby the following year in her final start.

Owned by Gary and Micah McKinney’s Reliance Ranches, A Dash of Sign will be ridden for the first time by Benito Baca, a replacement for James Flores. In the two evenings of trial races, Flores rode four qualifiers and will ride Eye Work for You.