Shotgun Kowboy eyeing Hawk Memorial after short rest

Shotgun Kowboy could make one more start at the Remington Park meet before gearing up for a campaign at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark.

Trainer C.R. Trout said the millionaire, who won the $175,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup for the third time in his career Friday night, could run next in the $75,000 Jeffrey A. Hawk Memorial on Remington's closing-day card Dec. 16.

But the first order of business, said Trout, is a little break for Shotgun Kowboy.

“I’m taking him home and turning him out in a really nice paddock, where he’s got a lot of green grass to enjoy,” Trout said. “I’ll let him rest there for a little while. I don’t want to let him down completely before we got to Hot Springs.”

Trout said the Hawk Memorial might be a nice bridge race to the Oaklawn meet that opens on Jan. 25, two weeks later this year than usual.

Shotgun Kowboy became a millionaire during this year's Oaklawn meet and went on to win the Grade 3, $200,000 Lone Star Park Handicap in May. In the Classics Cup he made every pole a winning one, cruising by 3 1/2 lengths under David Cabrera.

“David rode him really good, let him get some air and went ahead on,” said Trout, who bred and campaigns Shotgun Kowboy. “Every race this horse wins, I’m proud of him.”

Shotgun Kowboy will be freshened at Trout’s farm, an Edmond, Okla., facility about 15 minutes from Remington. Shotgun Kowboy was born there. He is the second millionaire Trout has trained behind the now-retired Maysville Slew. Shotgun Kowboy is by Kodiak Kowboy and out of the Siphon mare Shotgun Jane, who is a half-sister to Maysville Slew.

Shotgun Kowboy was winning his seventh stakes in the Classics Cup. The score helped push his earnings past $1.3 million.

“He really didn’t stand out until we started to break him,” Trout said of a young Shotgun Kowboy. “It was his attitude, the way he took to it, was willing to do whatever we wanted him to do. I’m so blessed to be around such a good colt.”

Other major stakes wins for Shotgun Kowboy, now 6, include the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby.

Trout has won the Classics Cup five times, with his other wins courtesy Imahit.

Trout said that next year, after the Oaklawn meet closes on May 4, he is looking to set up shop at Arapahoe Park in Colorado.

“We’re kind of thinking we’ll go up there where it’s cool and spend the summer and come back down here,” he said. “They have several little stakes we can run at, and we can haul anywhere from up there.”

Trout previously lived in Colorado, where Maysville Slew won the Colorado Derby and Arapahoe Park Handicap.