Mister Omaha moves back to dirt off long layoff in Oklahoma Classic Cup
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Mister Omaha won the 2025 edition of the $175,000 Oklahoma Classic Cup by 9 3/4 lengths in the midst of a battle-tested 3-year-old campaign. If the Joe Offolter-trained colt is going to repeat at Remington Park in 2026, he must do so while switching back to dirt off a nearly four-month layoff.
“Just had to miss a little bit of time for this and that,” Offolter said. “I was hoping to get a start in him, but we didn’t. He’s been working good, so we’ll see if we’ve got him tight enough.”
The Oklahoma Classic Cup is the featured race on the 10-race Friday card at Remington that will include eight statebred stakes offering a combined $1.04 million in purse money.
Unbeaten on dirt in two allowance starts this year, Mister Omaha made his turf debut in the $250,000 Texas Turf Classic at Lone Star Park in June, where he went to the front early before fading to sixth.
The trainer said the 1 1/8-mile distance had more to do with his disappointing finish than the surface, so returning to dirt for the 1 1/16-mile Oklahoma Classic Cup should safely get the 4-year-old back in his comfort zone. He is the 1-2 morning-line favorite in the field of six Oklahoma-breds.
Oklahoma Classics Juvenile
Beyond the morning-line favorite in the feature, Offolter has plenty in store for the statebred stakes card. The trainer has 11 horses entered in six races, including the 2-year-old Twice Last Year in the $100,000 Oklahoma Classics Juvenile Stakes.
“There’s about four or five of them in there that ran the same kind of race,” Offolter said. “So he just needs to move forward a little bit. We’ll see what we can get done.”
In his second start at Remington, the gelding broke much sharper than he did in his debut, stalking in second before pulling clear by 7 1/4 lengths. He earned a 61 Beyer Speed Figure.
All eight juveniles in the statebred field are coming out of maiden competition, and four remain winless. All but one will stretch out to six furlongs for the first time.
By My Boss, a debut winner trained by Miguel Angel Silva, won about as impressively as Twice Last Year last month, closing from sixth in a 5 1/2-furlong sprint to win by four lengths.
OKC Turf Classic Handicap
Last year, the 6-year-old gelding Eakly ran in three straight turf races at Remington, finishing second in all three for trainer Donnie Von Hemel. He will enter the third leg of that same series Friday, but in this year’s $130,000 OKC Turf Classic Handicap, he will go for his third straight victory.
Coming off a pair of five-furlong victories in the $50,000 Cliff Berry Turf Sprint Handicap and $250,000 Great West Turf Sprint, Eakly will stretch out to 1 1/16 miles for the first time since finishing second in the OKC Turf Classic last year. He won the race in 2023 and 2024, providing more than enough evidence of his versatility stretching out.
“He can get in place in the last part of the first turn, down to the middle of the second turn with his ears up,” Von Hemel said. “He doesn’t have to be in front, but he’s probably going to be somewhere close.”
Coming off a photo-finish score in the Great West Turf Sprint, for which he earned a 94 Beyer, Eakly has been made the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the field of seven Oklahoma-breds on Friday.
◗ Breakable Code, a 6-year-old gelding trained by Offolter, will try to win his second straight edition of the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Sprint Stakes. He has not won since scoring in the six-furlong race last year.
◗ The versatile mare Miss Code West will enter the $145,000 Oklahoma Classics Distaff Handicap as an overwhelming favorite for trainer Kevin Scholl. The 5-year-old has won two of her last three starts on turf and will switch back to dirt for the first time since winning the $75,000 She’s All In Handicap in December.
◗ With Miss Code West switching back to dirt, Doudoudouwanadance and Talkin Cadee will take over as the key contenders in the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Distaff Turf Stakes. The 6-year-old mares finished second and third in the $50,000 Shawn Bergquist Memorial in September.
◗ Letta’s Legacy, a classy mare trained by C.R. Trout, will get a shot at revenge in the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Distaff Sprint Handicap. In a statebred allowance last month, she went off at 1-9 odds and came up short by three-quarters of a length to the 9-1 outsider So Jordan, who will now step up for Scott Corderman.
◗ Angelforblueskies will try to bounce back from a convincing stakes defeat for Tristan Ashford in the $100,000 Oklahoma Classics Lassie Stakes. Though the juvenile filly finished 13 1/2 lengths back in the $50,000 Scissortail last month, she will run with a notable experience edge in the field of nine on Friday.
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