Smack Smack needs pace help in Governor's Cup

Pace, please.

That’s what trainer Don Von Hemel would like for Smack Smack when the horse goes for his third consecutive stakes win Sunday in the $175,000 Governor’s Cup at Remington Park.

“I’d like for some speed to be in there, let them run at each other, then pick ‘em up turning for home,” said Von Hemel.

The Governor’s Cup has been added to an expanded Oklahoma Derby Day card that will feature 10 stakes. Last year, the program was made up of seven stakes. The Governor’s Cup, which previously had been run over opening weekend, will be the first leg of an all-stakes pick four on races 9-12. The bet will have a minimum guaranteed pool of $50,000.

Smack Smack is part of an eight-horse field for the Governor’s Cup, which has drawn Mobile Bay and Chocopologie, the one-two finishers in last year’s Super Derby at Louisiana Downs, and Code West, who captured this race in 2014.

Smack Smack won last year’s Governor’s Cup and comes into this year’s running off wins in the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows and the $175,000 Downs at Albuquerque Handicap in his most recent start Aug. 6. Smack Smack used his closing kick to win the Cornhusker but found himself on the lead early at Albuquerque.

“He was up close all the way, which is unusual,” Von Hemel said. “That just happened on account of nobody taking the lead. He broke sharp, they let him go on for a ways – I think the first quarter went in 25 [seconds]. Then he stayed up close.”

Shane Laviolette has the mount on Smack Smack, who races for his breeder, the Oklahoma-owned operation of Dream Walkin’ Farms.

The same connections will attempt to win the first stakes on the card, the $75,000 Ricks Memorial, with Ghost Locket. She won the local allowance prep for the one-mile turf race for fillies and mares in her first start in two months Aug. 27.

“She just runs her heart out every time she runs,” said Von Hemel.

◗ Ivan Fallunovalot, who ran in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, makes his second start off a long layoff in the $150,000 David M. Vance Sprint. He will face four others in the six-furlong race, including Candip, the winner of the $100,000 Iowa Sprint Handicap in July, and multiple stakes winners Okie Ride and A M Milky Way.

Ivan Fallunovalot, who was sidelined by a quarter crack, won an allowance locally on Sept. 1. It was his first race since Jan. 30, when he captured the $100,000 King Cotton at Oaklawn. Lindey Wade has the mount for trainer Tom Howard.

◗ Ibaka will be returning to the Oklahoma-bred ranks for the $50,000 Red Earth, a 7 1/2-furlong turf race. He has defeated open company in each of his last two starts, taking an allowance over Grade 3 winner Shotgun Kowboy in August, then an optional $50,000 claiming race on Sept. 9.

Both races came over the turf course at Remington. In his last start, Ibaka backed up to a mile and, with no takers for the lead, ended up setting a pressured pace after breaking from the rail.

“He took the worst of it, mostly, around there,” said trainer Bret Calhoun. “He ended up on the lead, and they all swarmed him. He took pressure the whole way and still put them away.”

C.J. McMahon will ride Ibaka.

◗ Pumpkin Rumble, who last raced in the Arlington Million, is an appealing class play in the $100,000 Remington Green. The 1 1/16-mile turf race is for 3-year-olds and up. Pumpkin Rumble was third by a head in the Grade 3 Stars N Stripes in July at Arlington, edged by a past winner of the Remington Green in Greengrassofyoming.

Moment Is Right, the winner of last year’s Astoria at Belmont Park, will break from the rail in the $50,000 Flashy Lady. The six-furlong race for fillies and mares also drew Evangeline Downs stakes winner Steel Cut.

Cool Arrow owns some of the best Beyer Speed Figures in the $75,000 Kip Deville, which is the first stakes race in Remington’s series for 2-year-olds that culminates with the Springboard Mile in December.

A jumbo field of 13 has been entered in the final race on the card, the $50,000 Bob Barry Memorial, a 7 1/2-furlong turf race for fillies and mares bred in Oklahoma.