Lone Sailor wins crowded finish in Oklahoma Derby

Lone Sailor won the first stakes race of his career in a three-way photo Sunday at Remington Park, where he closed for a nose win over Believe in Royalty in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby.

It was another nose back to Diamond King in third.

The Oklahoma Derby anchored a card that featured 10 stakes. The races were worth a total of $1.3 million, making the program the richest of the meet at Remington.

Lone Sailor ($8.80) had run second or third in six stakes races leading up to the Oklahoma Derby. Among his efforts was a second by a neck in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby and a second by a nose in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby.

The pendulum swung his way in the Oklahoma Derby.

Lone Sailor was content to let the pace go Sunday, racing in ninth in the 11-horse field as Diamond King dueled with Sea Foam through fractions of 23.21 seconds for the opening quarter, 46.94 for the half-mile, and 1:11.21 for six furlongs. Diamond King shook Sea Foam afterward, but Lone Sailor was advancing with good energy and came five wide into the stretch. He rolled through the lane and got up on the wire, covering the 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:49.97.

“I had no idea who of the three of us won when we hit the wire,” Graham told publicity at Remington. “But I did know this: I could feel my horse stretching his neck out, so I thought we had a chance.”

James Graham was aboard Lone Sailor for G M B Racing and trainer Tom Amoss.

“Tom didn’t give me any instructions,” Graham said. “He just said that he thought this horse was continuing to get better and better. I could feel that, too. He would run second and second and second, but I think now he is finally figuring it out.”

Lone Sailor, a son of Majestic Warrior, earned $240,000 for his victory in the Oklahoma Derby. He has now won two races from 14 starts for earnings of $873,237.

The remaining order of finish in the Oklahoma Derby was Combatant in fourth, followed by Sea Foam, First Mondays, Wooderson, Eisenstaedt, Retirement Fund, Lionite, and Limation.

** The fifty-cent late pick four returned $33.75. The winning numbers were 2-5-5-10. The all-stakes sequence that included the Oklahoma Derby and the Remington Park Oaks, won by She's a Julie, ran on races 9-12. It had a minimum guaranteed pool of $100,000 for Sunday. The final pool was $169,471.

* Handle on the 12-race Remington card from all sources was $2,411,713, up 3.3 percent from the corresponding program in 2017, according to track announcer Dale Day.