Ivan Fallunovalot good to go after Vance win

OKLAHOMA CITY - Ivan Fallunovalot overcame a difficult trip to win the $150,000 David M. Vance for the third time in his career Sunday at Remington Park and was none the worse for wear Monday.

After being boxed in down the backside of the six-furlong race, Ivan Fallunovalot attempted to advance along the inside on the turn and coming into the stretch but was not able to get through for a while. He won by a length and covered six furlongs on a track rated “good” in 1:09.29. Ivan Fallunovalot earned a 94 Beyer.

“He’s very good,” trainer Tom Howard said. “He had a couple of nicks, but nothing like you’d expect. I figured we’d have a shoe off or a foot tore up. He ate all his food last night and was chipper this morning.”

Howard had hoped to have Ivan Fallunovalot in the clear and said he was particularly worried about the late run of Candip.

“We just didn’t want to get caught up in a speed duel because of Candip, because he could mow us down at the end,” Howard said. “We didn’t want to get into that, so we were going to drop back, swing wide, and try to chase them down and fight off Candip. But we could never get out. We were trapped in.”

Ivan Fallunovalot, owned by Lewis Matthews Jr., also won the David M. Vance in 2014 and 2015.

Last year, Ivan Fallunovalot finished a troubled ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. This year, a different route is planned for Ivan Fallunovalot.

Howard said the horse is now a candidate for the $250,000 Frank De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel. The six-furlong race is scheduled for Nov. 19.

Ivan Fallunovalot is a winner of 14 of 23 starts and has earned $650,808.

◗ Remington Park handled $2,344,481 on its 12-race program from all sources Sunday, with $2.1 million of that bet offtrack. The card featured 10 stakes races. Handle was up nearly $550,000 from the corresponding program in 2015, according to figures provided by the track.

◗ Smittys Cougar has a long-range goal of the Louisiana Champions Day program at Fair Grounds later this year, said trainer Ron Faucheux. Smittys Cougar won a five-furlong allowance on turf at Remington in a quick 55.95 seconds Sept. 8.