Remington Park: Fifth Date, Big Sugarush will test running styles in Silver Goblin

Remington Park leading owner Danny Caldwell will be testing them on the front end and from off the pace Friday night when he starts the entry of Fifth Date and Big Sugarush in the $50,000 Silver Goblin. The 6 1/2-furlong race for Oklahoma-breds drew eight stakes winners in the field of 11, among them Okie Ride, Z Rockstar, and Chuck.

“It’s an all-star race as far as Okie-breds are concerned,” Caldwell said. “At 6 1/2 furlongs, it’s almost a distance race but yet it’s still a sprint, so you’re getting the best of both worlds. It’s as tough a race as there is for Okie-breds.”

Fifth Date, a two-time stakes winner who is 12 for 40 at Remington, will be cutting back from a front-running win at a mile, and Caldwell looks for him to be prominent from his rail post. Big Sugarush, who is also a stakes winner, won from off the pace in his most recent start and draws well in post 6.

“Big Sugarush is good at stalking and pouncing,” Caldwell said. “Fifth Date, we’ll let him go, let him run his race. If they don’t push the old man, he’ll go on.”

Ramon Vazquez has been named to ride both horses by trainer Federico Villafranco. Caldwell said Wednesday that Vazquez will be on Big Sugarush and Jose Medina would likely ride Fifth Date.

Caldwell, a 48-year-old from Poteau, Okla., is bidding for his fourth Thoroughbred title at Remington. He had won 22 races at the meet through Tuesday, nine more than second-leading owner Black Hawk Stable. Caldwell last week surpassed his total number of wins from the 2012 season, when he won the title with 21.

“This is probably the best meet I’ve had so far,” said Caldwell, a retired coach. “I’ve been trying to improve my stable and trying to keep my stable strong all the way through the whole year.”

Caldwell has 27 horses in training at Remington and when the season closes Dec. 15 he will bring a 17-horse division to Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

Until then, he’ll be focused on winning races like the Silver Goblin. The chief threats to the Caldwell entry appear to be Okie Ride, a six-time stakes winner who was third to Chuck in last month’s $116,950 Oklahoma Classics Sprint at Remington, and Z Rockstar, who is cutting back from 1 1/16 miles after finishing third in the $158,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup.