Dontbotherknocking a horse for the turf course

Dontbotherknocking has been unbeatable over Remington Park's turf course the past two years, and on Friday night he will attempt to push his local record to 4 for 4 when he defends his title in the $100,000 Remington Green.

The 1 1/16-mile turf race is one of five undercard stakes supporting the $250,000 Oklahoma Derby. Together the races are worth $675,000, making the program the richest of the meet at Remington.

Dontbotherknocking has won three stakes over the local course, with his first score coming in September 2005 in the $125,000 DeBartolo Memorial. He went on to win the Green in October 2005, before returning to Oklahoma last month to capture the DeBartolo again, this time for a purse of $150,000. Dontbotherknocking excels at Remington for a couple of reasons, according to his trainer, Bernell Rhone.

"I don't think it's so much the turf course as it is the time of the year," he said. "He just seems to get good in the fall. That's what I kind of think it is. He likes the cooler weather. He's more aggressive, a happier horse, than he is in the spring of the year."

Dontbotherknocking has won his last three starts, the $75,000 John Bullit at Canterbury in August, the DeBartolo, and the $200,000 Louisiana Downs Breeders' Cup in his last out Sept. 23. He also won the Louisiana Downs BC last year, in his start prior to the Green.

Dontbotherknocking will break from post 4 under Quincy Hamilton.

"He needs a quick pace in there," said Rhone. "When he can lay back and just kind of bide his time, the last quarter of a mile he just accelerates."

Threats include Major Rhythm, Trial by Jury, and We All Love Aleyna.

Juvenile stakes winners in MEC Mile

Going Ballistic will take on fellow stakes winners Hadacure and Duh Nutts in the $100,000 MEC Mile for 2-year-olds. Others in the field include Loose Leaf, who ships in for trainer Ken McPeek, and the multiple stakes-placed Western Prize.

Going Ballistic is returning to dirt following three strong turf races that coincided with his move to two turns. In addition to a maiden win on turf, he captured the $100,000 El Joven at Retama on Sept. 2. In his most recent start, Going Ballistic was second by a half-length in the $100,000 Juvenile on the grass at Louisiana Downs.

"One of the main reasons we ran on the turf was because that's where the two-turn races were," said Donnie Von Hemel, who trains Going Ballistic. "So, hopefully, he's a dirt horse, also. I think he's probably bred more so that way, anyways."

Brownie Points the one to beat in Oaks

The multiple stakes winner Brownie Points returns to where it all started for her in the $100,000 Remington Park Breeders' Cup Oaks. She is the one to beat in the one-mile turf race , which also drew stakes winners Chetten County and Palace Rumor.

But none is as accomplished as Brownie Points, a four-time stakes winner whose victories have come on both dirt and turf. The first of her stakes wins came at Remington last November, in the $40,000 Cimarron on turf. Her latest stakes win came on the grass, too, in the $200,000 DeBartolo Oaks at Louisiana Downs on Sept. 23. Von Hemel has given the mount to Luis Quinonez.

* Round Lake should benefit from the bit of added distance she will pick up in the $50,000 E.L. Gaylord for 2-year-old fillies at 6o1/2 furlongs. She rallied for second in a six-furlong allowance last out. She could face her biggest challenge from stakes winner Lunarlady.

* Jonesboro has worked four consecutive bullets for the $75,000 Remington Park Sprint Championship Handicap, a seven-furlong race in which he will meet Zee Oh Six and War Bridle. Jonesboro won his comeback from a five-month layoff in his last start on Aug. 15.