Servis sending improving pair for Oklahoma Derby

The Smarty Jones show is coming to Remington Park.

Well, sort of.

John Servis, who trained Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones, intends to start a pair of colts exiting a race named for his most famous trainee in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sunday at Remington Park.

Servis said that as of Monday plans are to run Diamond King and First Mondays. The horses finished a respective second and third last out in the Grade 3 Smarty Jones at Parx on Aug. 25. Servis also has Pop Keenan on deck for the $150,000 David M. Vance, one of nine undercard stakes supporting the Oklahoma Derby. The horses, who are scheduled on a flight out of Baltimore on Friday morning, will mark the first Remington starters for the East Coast-based Servis – although he has been to the Oklahoma City track.

“I flew out there once to look at a couple of horses to buy,” Servis said.

Frankie Pennington has the mount on Diamond King, Servis said, and Paco Lopez has been secured for First Mondays. The chance at a late-season stakes for straight 3-year-olds made the Oklahoma Derby an appealing spot, Servis said.

“We’re thinking we’ll take a big swing at the Oklahoma Derby and depending on how they run put them away for the winter or look at the Discovery,” Servis said of the Grade 3, $200,000 race for 3-year-olds Nov. 24 at Aqueduct.

Diamond King was one of the top choices in the Smarty Jones. He set the pace to the late stages and finished four lengths behind winner Axelrod, who on Saturday finished second in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby, won by McKinzie. Diamond King earned a Beyer Figure of 86 in the 1 1/16-mile Smarty Jones.

“He ran well,” Servis said. “He was in front, and kind of gets to loafing on the lead. Quite frankly, we were second best. Axelrod ran a very good race, ran a pretty good number in that race.

“Diamond King still has room for improvement. He hasn’t given it all to me yet, and I’m hoping that he will this coming weekend.”

Diamond King, the winner of the $125,000 Federico Tesio in April at Laurel, is a son of Quality Road and a full brother to Bellafina, who on Sept. 1 won the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante. Diamond King races for Cash Is King and LC Racing.

First Mondays, a son of Curlin who races for Glenangus Farm, rallied for third when making his stakes debut in the Smarty Jones. Servis scratched him from last Saturday’s Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby.

“I thought mentally he wasn’t ready to tackle that kind of company yet,” Servis said.

First Mondays is out of the mare Formalities Aside, who is a half-sister to Dubai World Cup winner Well Armed.

Servis said he likes the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Oklahoma Derby for First Mondays.

Ortiz has call on Pletcher shippers

Trainer Todd Pletcher said Monday he plans to send Wooderson to town for the Oklahoma Derby and Alberobello for the Grade 3, $200,000 Remington Park Oaks on the same card. He said both horses would be ridden by Jose Ortiz. The horses are scheduled to fly in Friday from Kentucky.

Pletcher said he plans to remove the blinkers from Wooderson, a half-brother to Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra who finished second in an allowance race at Saratoga last out on Sept. 1.

Don Thompson, stakes coordinator for Remington, on Monday had a working list of eight to 10 potential starters for the Oklahoma Derby. It includes Believe in Royalty, Eisenstaedt, Limation, Lone Sailor, and Sea Foam.

Thompson said flights with horses from Kentucky and Southern California are due to arrive Friday in Oklahoma City.

He said the Southern California invaders expected are Luminoso and True Royalty for the Remington Park Oaks. True Royalty won the Grade 3 Torrey Pines in her last start Aug. 26 at Del Mar.

The draw for the card is Thursday.