Remington: She's All In goes for three-peat in Oklahoma Classics Distaff

She’s All In brings star power to Friday night’s $1 million Oklahoma Classics card at Remington Park. She is a multiple Grade 3 winner pushing $700,000 in earnings, and she will be seeking her third consecutive win in the $145,000 Distaff. The race is one of eight stakes for horses bred in Oklahoma on what is one of the biggest cards of the meet at Remington.

Other highlights of the 20th running of the Oklahoma Classics program include the $175,000 Classics Cup, in which Z Rockstar will attempt to halt the win streak compiled by Pacar. Meanwhile, the venerable Miranda Diane leads the $130,000 Distaff Sprint, while Skedee looks to continue her dominance over the local course in the $130,000 Distaff Turf.

She’s All In made waves this spring when she won the Grade 3 Sixty Sails at Hawthorne by more than eight lengths with a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 103. The performance earned her a shot at Grade 1 competition in the Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park, and she finished fourth. In more recent times, She’s All In has been based at Remington, winning her second allowance at the meet Sept. 29. It served as her prep for the Distaff.

“For the fall of the year, this is the goal,” trainer Donnie Von Hemel said. “She’s run well in this race every year, and there’s not need to change.”

She’s All In won her first Distaff in 2010, by a romping 11 lengths. She defended her title by a length in 2011, and for her attempt at a third Distaff she will break from the rail under Luis Quinonez.

“It’s the shortest way around there,” Von Hemel said.

She’s All In will face seven others in the mile and 70-yard race Friday. She goes for her breeder, Robert H. Zoellner.

Zoellner and Von Hemel also will have a rail starter in the Classics Cup in Z Rockstar. He will face nine others in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds and up, including Pacar, winner of his last four starts, all for Rushton Jennings and trainer J.R. Caldwell; Ted’s Folly, winner of last year’s $315,000 Springboard Mile at Remington; and Imahit, a recent stakes winner seeking his third consecutive score Friday.

Z Rockstar, who was third in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby in July, will be getting back to two turns off a pair of sprint starts for 3-year-old Oklahoma-breds at Remington. He was third in an allowance Aug. 30, then ran second in the $50,000 Tishomingo on Sept. 21.

“I think if you look back, his best races were two turns,” Von Hemel said. “The six and a half and seven-eighths races were more of an opportunity. They were 3-year-old Oklahoma-bred races. I would prefer a mile or a mile and 70 yards, but they weren’t. That’s what was available opportunity-wise, rather than the perfect spot.”

Quinonez will ride Z Rockstar, who at Oaklawn in March earned a Beyer of 91 for winning a 1 1/16-mile allowance. He also ran third in the $60,000 Prairie Mile at Prairie Meadows.

In other Oklahoma Classics races:

◗ Conkigo will attempt to wire the field in the $130,000 Sprint, which is for 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs. He has won his last three starts on the front end, including the $50,000 Remington Park Turf Sprint on Sept. 14. Martin Escobar has the mount for Gary Owens and trainer Martin Lozano.

◗ Skedee is seeking her eighth win over the Remington course in the Distaff Turf. In her most recent start, she won the $50,000 Ladies on the Lawn on the Oklahoma Derby undercard Sept. 30.

◗ Miranda Diane will be cutting back to one turn and returning to dirt, the surface of the bulk of her success, for the Distaff Sprint. Nena Matz has the mount in the six-furlong race for fillies and mares. Shane Seaton trains 12-time winner Miranda Diane for B and S Racing.

◗ The $100,000 Lassie for 2-year-old fillies at six furlongs goes with a full field of 14, while the $100,000 Juvenile for 2-year-olds at six furlongs drew 11.

◗ Ridge Road is a supplement to the 11-horse field making up the $130,000 Turf.