Remington: American Sugar tries longer distance in allowance feature

American Sugar will attempt to nail down her first win at two turns on Monday, when she starts in the ninth race at Remington Park in Oklahoma City. A field of 12 fillies and mares is set for the one-mile allowance that highlights an afternoon card serving as a makeup date for races lost to weather. Remington has another makeup card Tuesday.

American Sugar is just 3, but she has already won four stakes, all sprints, including the $60,000 Dixie Belle at Oaklawn Park. She comes into Monday’s race off a six-furlong allowance win at Remington on Nov. 20. American Sugar was just up for a determined head victory.

“She ran really well,” said Lynn Chleborad, who trains American Sugar for Poindexter Thoroughbreds. “I think that day speed was really hard to close on. She put those little ears back . . . She wants it.”

Chleborad is hopeful American Sugar will want the distance Monday.

“In my mind I still think that she is a better sprinter, but I hope that because of the maturity she shows me, she’ll relax and get the distance,” Chleborad said. “I think she can do it, just because she’s a hard-trier.”

American Sugar, to be ridden by Alex Birzer, will break from post 11. Her rivals include stakes winners Fast Resource and Tastefullyxcessive.

Chleborad is nearing 1,000 career Thoroughbred training wins. She was at 994 heading into Saturday. Chleborad, who has a 38-horse stable at Remington, also is a regular at Oaklawn and Prairie Meadows. She is a Nebraska native and her first training win came at Lincoln, on Oct. 9, 1987. The pending milestone has been a pleasant surprise for her.

“I really never thought about it,” Chleborad said. “You just go to work every day, work real hard. You see people make 1,000 wins, and more, and if I get that, it would be meaningful to me because it’s hard to do.”

Chleborad, who showed horses in her youth, seemed destined for an accounting career after being a candidate for a job with a major firm right out of college. But, she decided against the 9 to 5 life.

“I always liked the horses,” she said. “I wanted to do something that I liked. Life’s too short.”

Chleborad began galloping for noted Nebraska trainer Herb Riecken. Since going out on her own, she has had a number of stakes winners, including Beat the Stats. In 2009, she won the spring training title at Prairie Meadows.

◗ Jockey Cliff Berry on Saturday was five wins from becoming the first rider to collect 2,000 Thoroughbred victories at Remington.