Springboard Mile gets a dozen 2-year-olds

The $400,000 Springboard Mile, which is a points race for the Kentucky Derby, drew a full field of 12 horses when entries for the Remington Park fixture were taken Wednesday. The 2-year-old stakes anchors a 13-race card that closes out the meet on Sunday. There are a total of six stakes on the program. First post is 3 p.m. Central.

There will be an all-stakes pick four on races 10-13 and it will have a minimum guaranteed pool of $100,000, according to Matt Vance, vice president of racing operations for Remington. The Springboard Mile will go as race 12.

Rowdy Yates, a two-time stakes winner at the meet, will start as one of the top contenders in the Springboard Mile. Richard Eramia has the mount for Steve Asmussen, the same trainer-jockey team that won last year’s running with Long Range Toddy. Rowdy Yates will break from post 3.

Asmussen, the leading trainer at Remington, also will send out Shoplifted, the runner-up in the Grade 1 Hopeful who will be ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr., and Jungle Runner, who won the local prep, the $100,000 Clever Trevor.

Answer In invades off a maiden special weight sprint win at Churchill for which he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 83. Javier Castellano has the mount for trainer Brad Cox.

The complete field from the rail is Piece of Work, Alternate Time, Rowdy Yates, Answer In, Jungle Runner, Shipman’s Song, Southgate, Embolden, Shoplifted, Maximiliano, Kirkules, and Slew Tang Clan.

Shotgun Kowboy, an earner of $1.5 million, is part of a 12-horse field for the $100,000 Jeffrey A. Hawk Memorial for 3-year-olds and up at a mile and 70 yards. Others making up the field include Sleepy Eyes Todd, runner-up in the Oklahoma Derby, and multiple Grade 3 winner Timeline.

Welder goes for five straight

Welder will be chasing his fifth consecutive win Saturday night at Remington Park when he starts in a non-conditions allowance. It will be run over six furlongs. The feature is carded as the seventh race and has a purse of $40,000.

Welder’s streak has been built during the Remington meet. He won an August allowance and then proceeded to capture three straight stakes. His streak includes the $150,000 David M. Vance Sprint over open company and the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Sprint. Last year, he won four straight stakes at Remington.

Welder is an 11-time winner at Remington and has won the last 10 times he’s run in Oklahoma City. Overall, the horse has earned $970,998. Theresa Luneack trains Welder for Ra-Max Farm. David Cabrera has the mount from post 4.

◗ There were two new cases of equine herpesvirus in a quarantined barn at Remington when tests taken Monday were returned, according to a track official. He said both cases are asymptomatic. Last week, one of the two barns that have been on lockdown was lifted from quarantine. The next round of tests is Monday.