Remington meet opens with Governor's Cup, large fields
Remington Park jumps into its 67-date meet Friday night with large fields for each of its nine races, including 10 older horses for a competitive renewal of the $175,000 Governor’s Cup.
The Oklahoma City track also has restored the value of its richest races, the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby on Sept. 26 and the Springboard Mile for 2-year-olds on Dec. 17, to $400,000 each after the pandemic led to trimming them to $200,000 in 2020.
Overall, the stakes program is 34 races strong, with total purses of $3.8 million.
“We’re very excited that our stakes purse levels are back to the robust levels we built them to pre-COVID,” said Matt Vance, who has been promoted to executive vice president of racing for both Remington and sister track Lone Star Park.
The Oklahoma Derby will anchor a card of eight stakes worth $1.1 million. The 1 1/8-mile race is being run on the meet’s lone Sunday card, which will have a special post of 3 p.m. Central. The program includes the Grade 3, $200,000 Remington Park Oaks and the David M. Vance Sprint, which is back at its original value of $150,000.
The Springboard Mile, since 2017 a points race for the Kentucky Derby, will be showcased as part of a card of five stakes. It has been moved to a Friday slot on the calendar, and will close out the meet Dec. 17. There will be a special first post of 5 p.m. Central.
The Oklahoma Classics Night card of eight stakes is Oct. 15.
The opener Friday ushers in a number of facility improvements.
“Probably the first thing horsemen, our guests, and television audience will notice is new pavers in the paddock, walking ring, and winner’s circle,” said Vance.
“We’re also in the very first steps of a three-year, $5 million project of stall renovations. Basically, we’re refitting every barn that we have with new stalls by Priefert. We’re doing away with the old wood for a newer composite material.”
Remington’s stable area includes a division from Steve Asmussen, who recently became the all-time winningest trainer in North America. Asmussen has won the last five training titles and 16 overall at Remington.
Others returning include jockeys Ramon Vazquez, a five-time title winner at Remington, and David Cabrera, a three-time title winner at the track. Stewart Elliott comes into the meet off riding titles at Lone Star and Sam Houston, while new faces include Reylu Gutierrez and Sasha Risenhoover.
Vance said purses are projected to average $250,000 a program.
Remington is racing Wednesday through Saturday most weeks, with first post at 7 p.m. There will be Monday and Tuesday cards the last three weeks in November and Dec. 6-7. First post for those programs will be 2:30 p.m.
In a new dynamic this meet, Remington will be racing at the same time as Oaklawn for three weeks in December after Oaklawn announced an earlier opening to its season. In the past, the tracks had both shared some spring dates.
“We had very healthy, robust seasons back then,” Vance said. “I think it complemented both tracks, gave horsemen the opportunity to go back and forth and look for spots that might fit them better. Oaklawn will have new horsemen that perhaps have never run at Remington that might want to take a five-hour van ride west for a spot that fits here.”
Remington’s card Friday, which includes two allowances on turf, drew an average of 10.2 horses a race, with millionaires Tenfold and Rated R Superstar meeting in the Governor’s Cup. The mile and an eighth stakes also drew Plainsman, a winner of his last three starts, and Hunka Burning Love, who won the Governor’s Cup in 2020.
“The race came up very good,” Vance said. “We’ve got a previous winner, Hunka Burning Love, who fits the definition of what we all appreciate in a hard-knocking, road warrior gelding.”
Trainer Karl Broberg is removing blinkers from Hunka Burning Love. The horse did not wear blinkers when he won last year’s Governor’s Cup by 6 1/2 lengths. He will break from post 10 under Gutierrez.
Plainsman has won back-to-back stakes at Prairie Meadows and Indiana Grand and will be returning to the distance of his most prestigious win, the Grade 3 Discovery in 2018 at Aqueduct. Francisco Arrieta has the mount from post 7 for trainer Brad Cox.