Ibaka goes for sixth straight win in Tishomingo

Ibaka will attempt to win his sixth straight race Friday night at Remington Park, where he will start in the $50,000 Tishomingo for 3-year-olds bred in Oklahoma. The seven-furlong stakes will share a card with its counterpart for 3-year-old fillies, the $50,000 Te Ata.

Ibaka is the most accomplished member of the nine-horse field, which includes fellow stakes winners Alpha and Omega, Fesstune, Lingerlonger, and Big Sugar High. The Te Ata field of 10 includes the stakes winners Okie Smokey and Mama’s Mad Money, as well as the promising Devious Rumor.

Tishomingo (Race 7)

Key contenders

Ibaka (Last 3 Beyers: 78-86-79)

* He began his win streak in January in a first-level allowance at Delta Downs in Vinton, La. Ibaka proceeded to win three straight restricted stakes before a half-length score Aug. 30 in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance prep for the Tishomingo. In that race, he dueled through quick fractions and came back in what was his first start since May 10.

“He’s got a lot of heart, that horse,” said Bret Calhoun, who trains Ibaka for his breeder, Doug Wall. “Last race – we’d given him a little 30-day break at the farm – he probably wasn’t 100 percent coming back for that race. Really, watching it, at no point did I think he was a winner, and he won. He basically refuses to lose.”

* Ibaka will break from post 6, under regular rider Lindey Wade.

“He’s a very versatile horse,” Calhoun said. “He can go short. He can go long. He can go to the front. He can come from off the pace. He’s just a real versatile horse.”

* The Tishomingo could be Ibaka’s springboard to the richest race of the year for Oklahoma-breds, the $175,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup at Remington on Oct. 17. A start will be debated as the 1 1/16-mile race would be his first race against older horses, noted Calhoun.

Fesstune (Last 3 Beyers: 73-75-70)

* He was third in the allowance prep for the Tishomingo, finishing two lengths behind Ibaka. It was Fesstune’s first start since May 3, when he scored a 14 3/4-length win in the one-mile division of the $64,000 Oklahoma Stallion Stakes at Will Rogers Downs near Tulsa.

Alpha and Omega (Last 3 Beyers: 77-77-3)

* He went hoof to hoof with Ibaka in the Tishomingo allowance prep, dueling and finishing a half-length behind that rival in second. The speed this one showed suggests he might be a front-running force from the rail as he seeks his second career stakes win.