Third time (after time) should be a charm for undefeated Cyndi Loper
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Cyndi Loper might seem like a filly who just wants to have fun, but time after time she’s shown her true colors as a serious racehorse. She’s unbeaten in two starts and will be looking for a second straight stakes win at the Remington Park meet in Friday night’s $50,000 Slide Show.
The one-mile test for 2-year-old fillies is one of three Oklahoma-bred stakes on the card. The $50,000 Don McNeill is for 2-year-olds, while Flat Hanby makes a cutback in distance for the $50,000 Silver Goblin.
Cyndi Loper, named for singer and former Belmont Park hotwalker Cyndi Lauper, is part of a field of seven. She has won her first two starts by a combined margin of 8 3/4 lengths.
“In the mornings, she gets a little excited and she likes to train,” said trainer Francisco Bravo. “So, we send her to the track pretty early and she’s happy the rest of the day. If she has to wait to go in the third or fourth set, she doesn’t like that. So, since she’s the big girl in the barn, she gets what she likes.”
Cyndi Loper debuted June 29 and wired a field of maiden special weight rivals at Lone Star Park. In her other start, she won the $76,000 Oklahoma Classics Lassie at six furlongs by 4 3/4 lengths on Oct. 17 at Remington. Jockey Floyd Wethey Jr. was aboard for both races and has the mount from the rail Friday.
“She’s done everything right,” Bravo said. “The way she ran in the Lassie, it was pretty spectacular, I thought. She broke a little slow, she got into contention, then was very well ridden and finished pretty impressively.”
Cyndi Loper will move to a mile on Friday and is a candidate to control the pace.
“She’s bred to go longer, so we’ll see what she does,” Bravo said. “I think she should do all right. She will have a little more competition. There’s a couple of fillies in that field who look like they also would benefit from the distance, but I think we’re going in in pretty good shape.”
Cyndi Loper was bred by Mike Grossman and his wife, Pam. She is by the late Medaglia d’Oro stallion Atreides, who sired 2024 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Soul of an Angel. Cyndi Loper’s dam is Spring Steen, who is by Maclean’s Music.
“Mr. and Mrs. Grossman usually come up with great names,” Bravo said of Cyndi Loper.
About a month after the filly’s debut, Mike Grossman died.
“A terrible loss to his family, our family, and the to the horse industry,” said Bravo, who began training for Grossman in the 1990s. “He had the means to play the game and he enjoyed it. He was very kind to his horses and the people around him.”
The field for the Slide Show also includes Lanaluah, who is multiple stakes-placed, and Inca Code, a full sister to multiple stakes winner Miss Code West. They may be “running all through the night” to catch Cyndi Loper, however.
◗ Royalamerican will move to two turns for race 7, the Don McNeill, after winning the Oklahoma Classics Juvenile. On Saturday, Remington will put on a large-scale Christmas festival.
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