Game Day Play looks to continue owner's hot streak in Clever Trevor

Owner Tom Durant is looking forward to running Silver Dust in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile next weekend at Keeneland, but before then he has some stakes business to attend to at Remington Park.

Durant has homebred Game Day Play in Friday night’s $60,000 Clever Trevor. The seven-furlong race for 2-year-olds is the final local stepping-stone to the $200,000 Springboard Mile, a Kentucky Derby points race to be held Dec. 20 at Remington.

Game Day Play was an impressive maiden special weight winner in August and as such is one of several contenders in an evenly matched Clever Trevor. The field of seven also includes Hulen and Red N Wild, who finished a respective third and fourth in last month’s Kip Deville at Remington; Gushing Oil, who won his debut over the local strip with a field-best Beyer Speed Figure of 71; and Carpe Luna, a son of the Grade 1-winning mare Ask the Moon.

Game Day Play is a son of Violence trained by Bret Calhoun. He showed determination winning his maiden on the front end at Lone Star Park. In his lone local start, he closed for fifth in the Kip Deville. Game Day Play will look to keep Durant’s stable hot, as the owner has gone 4 for 7 with his starters this meet in Oklahoma City.

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“We’ve done good at Remington with what horses we’ve brought there,” said Durant, a businessman based in Texas.

The Remington success is part of a bigger picture for Durant. He’s gone 17 for 64 with his starters this year in North America and is poised to have his best earnings year on the track since the stable hit $1 million with 202 starters in 2003.

“I’ve got the best stock I’ve ever had,” Durant said, “and I haven’t got them all on the track. I’ve got a lot to look forward to.”

In the immediate future, Durant will be rooting on Silver Dust in the Dirt Mile. The horse will be shortening up in distance off a pair of Grade 2 starts at Churchill in which he ran third to top Breeders’ Cup Classic probables By My Standards and Tom’s d’Etat.

“This horse amazes me,” Durant said of Silver Dust. “He was just really hard to train there in the beginning and as time’s gone on he’s gotten better. He’s gotten used to it. He still has his moments, but boy, this horse can run – and especially going a mile. I like the distance change.”

As for Game Day Play, Durant said he feels the horse will handle the added ground he picks up in the Clever Trevor. Lindey Wade has the mount from post 2.