Governor's Cup kicks off meet with new post time

Remington Park jumps into its $3 million stakes schedule on opening night Friday with the $100,000 Governor’s Cup.

Unload should go favored following his runner-up finish to Red Route One in the Grade 3 Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows. Unload is part of a field of six that includes Paluxy, who won last year’s Governor’s Cup, and Mine That Star, a multiple stakes winner and half-brother to Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird.

Remington is racing 67 dates through Dec. 13. There is a first post of 6:30 p.m. Central for most cards this meet, track spokesman Dale Day said – the first post time change since 2013. Remington plans to race on a Wednesday-through-Saturday night schedule for the majority of the season, beginning in September.

The Governor’s Cup is one of the meet’s premier races for older horses. Other highlights on the stakes calendar include three major race dates – Oklahoma Derby Day on Sept. 29, Oklahoma Classics Night on Oct. 18, and Springboard Mile Day on Dec. 13.

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The Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at 1 1/8 miles anchors a card of eight stakes that includes the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks. It will be held on the lone Sunday card of the season, said Day, and there will be a first post of 3 p.m. Central.

The $300,000 Springboard Mile for 2-year-olds is a Kentucky Derby points race that will be supported by five other stakes on a closing-day card that will have a post of 3 p.m. The Trapeze, which is for 2-year-old fillies, has been renamed for the late Toby Keith, the country music artist who bred and owned horses and was a regular at Remington.

During the offseason, Remington also has lost such friends as longtime trainers Walter Hodges and Michael Gass Sr.

The ranks of familiar faces returning for the new season include Steve Asmussen, the trainer of Unload who is seeking his 19th training title in Oklahoma City. David Cabrera, who won four riding titles at the track from 2018-21, also is back for the new season.

New faces include trainers Ingrid Mason and Abel Ramirez, who is taking over from the retiring Karl Broberg. Broberg will continue to race horses as an owner, he said. The Broberg-led stable End Zone Athletics is a three-time title winner at Remington, where Danny Caldwell ranks as the track’s all-time leading owner. Rene Diaz and Belen Quinonez are new faces in the riding colony.

Flat Hanby, one of the top 3-year-olds on the grounds by virtue of his win in the Canterbury Park Derby, is being pointed to the $50,000 Oklahoma Stallion Stakes on Sept. 6, trainer Boyd Caster said.

Caster said depending on how the horse progresses, there is a possibility he could advance to the Oklahoma Derby. Flat Hanby has won his last four starts, including a recent stakes at Prairie Meadows. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 92 for his six-length romp at Canterbury.

Remington installed a new turf rail during the off season, Day said.

He also said the track is bringing back two pick five wagers for each card this season after experimenting with an early and late pick five last fall.

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