Remington Park: Humble Smarty back on best track for Winter Dash

Humble Smarty has run some of the best races of his career at Remington Park, so his return to the Oklahoma City track for Thursday night’s $50,000 Winter Dash should be meaningful for the horse. He will be coming off a start in New Mexico, but one race earlier had won the $100,000 David M. Vance at Remington.

“He’s run some good races here,” said Brett Creighton, who owns and trains Humble Smarty. “I think we’ll do better here. Well, I’m hoping to.”

Humble Smarty is part of a strong cast for the Winter Dash, an overnight stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs. The race, which is for 3-year-olds and up, drew a field of 10 and kick starts the stakes action on what is the final week of the meet at Remington. The season ends Saturday night with a program of three stakes, led by the $300,000 Springboard Mile.

Humble Smarty won the Vance by a nose on Sept. 30 and earned one of his best career Beyer Speed Figures, a 94. He covered six furlongs in 1:08.60, a season after winning at Remington allowance in 1:08.80. Overall, Humble Smarty is 4 for 7 on the main track in Oklahoma City.

“He really likes the place,” Creighton said.

But Humble Smarty did not handle the track last out in New Mexico, Creighton said. The horse finished second as the favorite in the $55,000 Lea County that was run Nov. 13 at Zia Park.

“It’s a little different surface,” he said. “He didn’t take a liking to it.”

Humble Smarty will break from post 5 in the Winter Dash, just outside of Banner Cat, a winner of his last four starts including races at three furlongs and 870 yards. Creighton is hoping for a tracking trip by Humble Smarty, who will be ridden by Dean Butler.

Herecomesbert is a late-running threat. He was second by a nose in the Vance, a stakes that has since produced two next-out winners. The fifth-place finisher, multiple stakes winner Tend, returned to take a $100,000 optional claimer at Churchill Downs, and the sixth-place finisher, Uno Mas, won a $25,000 claiming race at Remington.

Luis Quinonez has the mount on Herecomesbert for trainer Bret Calhoun, who also will send out multiple stakes winner Gold Coyote in the Winter Dash.

Others making up the field include Solar Charge, who will be seeking his fourth straight win Thursday.