For Immediate Release
Thursday, October 13, 2011
THE OKLAHOMA DERBY DOZEN: TALENTED FIELD TO BATTLE SUNDAY
OKLAHOMA CITY – A field of 12 entered the state’s richest Thoroughbred event in the Remington Park racing office this morning. The $400,000 Oklahoma Derby is the headline event on the only Sunday afternoon of racing this season with an even dozen to contest the 1-1/8 miles.
The 2011 Oklahoma Derby field boasts a highly-talented group of 3-year-olds with seven of the 12 entrants having won or achieved a top-three finish in a graded stakes race this year.
Multiple graded stakes winner Prayer For Relief drew post position four as he bids for his fifth-straight victory. The colt is also the morning-line favorite for the 23rd Oklahoma Derby at odds of 9-5.
“Prayer for Relief is nothing short of perfect this year and it's due to his great versatility,” noted Remington Park odds-maker Jerry Shottenkirk. “He has easily earned the favorite's role by repeatedly showing that he wins on the front end or from just a few lengths off the lead. That ability to adjust to any pace or situation makes him tough in any spot.”
Owned by Zayat Stables of Hackensack, N.J. and trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Prayer For Relief has won four consecutive races, the last three of which are graded stakes. The Jump Start colt’s streak began at Hollywood Park on Memorial Day weekend with an allowance score. Baffert then sent Prayer For Relief to Prairie Meadows to win the Grade 3, $250,000 Iowa Derby in June. After that, it was on to Mountaineer Park in August to win the Grade 2, $750,000 West Virginia Derby.
The most recent Prayer For Relief triumph came in the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs on Sept. 10. Prayer For Relief is the top career earner in the Oklahoma Derby field, nearly a millionaire, with a bankroll of $965,500. He has won all four of his 2011 starts.
Prayer For Relief is one of six in the Oklahoma Derby that last competed on Sept. 10 in the Super Derby in Bossier City, La., a race that had nine starters. Jockey Rafael Bejarano will be in to ride Prayer For Relief from his southern California base. He has been on the colt for his last three wins.
Baffert won the Oklahoma Derby in 1996 with Semoran, when the race was still known as the Remington Park Derby. Since his last win in Oklahoma City, Baffert has won three Kentucky Derbies and has sent three runners into the Belmont Stakes with a chance to win the Triple Crown, finishing second and denied history twice.
Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame trainer Donnie Von Hemel will send out Alternation in the Oklahoma Derby after a fourth-place effort in the Super Derby, four lengths behind Prayer For Relief. Von Hemel is the only trainer to win the Oklahoma Derby more than once, scoring three times with Clever Trevor (1989), Queen’s Gray Bee (1991) and Going Ballistic (2007). He is currently third in the Remington Park seasonal standings with 13 wins.
Alternation broke his maiden status in his second career start here in Dec. 2010. Owned by Pin Oak Stable of Versailles, Ky, the Distorted Humor colt has been training at Remington Park since the Super Derby, with four sharp drills under his belt. Alternation won the Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. in mid-May after a fifth-place run in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in April.
Luis Quinonez, currently the leading rider at Remington Park with 35 wins on the season, will ride Alternation for the first time since the Arkansas Derby. Quinonez has one Oklahoma Derby victory, coming in 2004 with Wally’s Choice who won the race at 33-1 odds. Wally’s Choice is still the highest-priced horse to win the race.
Steve Asmussen, the leading trainer during the Remington Park season with 25 wins and the national leader with 270 victories in 2011, will saddle Awesome Bet on Sunday. The second-place finisher in the Super Derby will attempt to give Asmussen his first score in the Oklahoma Derby.
Owned by Mike McCarty of Austin, Texas, Awesome Bet ran second in the Super Derby after a fifth-place finish behind Prayer For Relief in the West Virginia Derby. Asmussen has worked Awesome Bet three times since his most recent effort. Justin Shepherd, the regular rider for the Asmussen operation at Remington Park, will have the mount on Awesome Bet from post position 11.
Populist Politics, the third-place finisher in the Super Derby, 2-1/2 lengths behind Prayer For Relief, will start from post position six. Owned by the New Haven, Conn. partnership of Klaravich Stables and W.H. Lawrence, Populist Politics is trained by Tom Amoss. Jockey Gerard Melancon will be aboard the Louisiana-bred colt as he has been for his last four races, all stakes events.
Infrattini, owned by Z Thoroughbreds of Thousand Oaks, Calif. and trained by Paul McGee, will leave from post position two under jockey Corey Lanerie. Infrattini was fourth in the West Virginia Derby after a runner-up finish in June at Churchill Downs in the Grade 3, $125,000 Matt Winn Stakes.
Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado will ship from Belmont Park in New York to ride Redeemed for owner Jay Em Ess Stable of Santa Monica, Calif. Trained by Anthony Dutrow, Redeemed was second recently in the $300,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at Parx Racing in Philadelphia. Prior to that effort he was runner-up in the Grade 2, $150,000 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga in August. That race was won by Caleb’s Posse, winner of the Clever Trevor Stakes at Remington Park last year.
Owner, breeder and trainer C.R. Trout of Edmond, Okla. has entered his Dreaminofthewin. The Successful Appeal colt won a 6-1/2 furlong allowance race here in late September. He previously had finished third behind Prayer For Relief in the Iowa Derby and before that, in the Grade 3, $200,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas in April. Cliff Berry, Remington Park’s all-time leading jockey and two-time winner of the Oklahoma Derby (2003 & 2006), will have the call on Dreaminofthewin.
New York-bred Socialsaul will make his first start away from the Empire State in the Oklahoma Derby. Socialsaul, winner of the $150,000 New York Derby for state-breds at Finger Lakes in New York in July, worked a half-mile Wednesday morning in 48.19 second breezing. Trained by Gary Contessa, Socialsaul has three victories and a pair of second-place finishes from six lifetime starts. He is owned by Samotowka Stables of Shaker Heights, Ohio.
The remainder of the Oklahoma Derby field includes: Malibu Glow, sixth in the Super Derby and fifth prior to that in the Grade 1, $1,000,000 Travers Stakes at Saratoga in late August; Meistersinger, eighth in the Super Derby who this summer won the $100,000 Barbaro Stakes at Delaware Park; Behold De Buy, second recently in a Remington Park allowance, he was the runner-up in February in the $100,000 Borderland Derby at Sunland Park, N.M.; and Wally Van who has traveled from New Mexico after winning the Ruidoso Downs Thoroughbred Derby. Wally Van is the top winner entered to the Oklahoma Derby with seven career victories.
The complete field by post position and program number with trainer, jockey and morning-line odds for the $400,000 Oklahoma Derby:
1. Malibu Glow, George Weaver, Eddie Castro, 15-1
2. Infrattini, Paul McGee, Corey Lanerie, 15-1
3. Meistersinger, Graham Motion, Sheldon Russell, 8-1
4. Prayer For Relief, Bob Baffert, Rafael Bejarano, 9-5
5. Alternation, Donnie Von Hemel, Luis Quinonez, 5-1
6. Populist Politics, Tom Amoss, Gerard Melancon, 15-1
7. Redeemed, Anthony Dutrow, Edgar Prado,10-1
8. Dreaminofthewin, C.R. Trout, Cliff Berry, 12-1
9. Socialsaul, Gary Contessa, John Grabowski, 20-1
10. Behold De Boy, Joyce Salisbury, Glen Murphy, 30-1
11. Awesome Bet, Steve Asmussen, Justin Shepherd, 5-1
12. Wally Van, Tyrone Gleason, Mike Ziegler, 20-1
The 23rd Oklahoma Derby leads a stellar program of 11 races Sunday, going as the 10th with an approximate post time of 5:49pm. The first race on the Oklahoma Derby card starts at 1:30pm. All times are central.
The $125,000 Remington Green Stakes and the $250,000 Remington Park Oaks will precede the Oklahoma Derby as races eight and nine respectively. Skip A Smile, winner of the $100,000 Governor’s Cup in August and the $100,000 DeBartolo Memorial in September, has been made the 3-1 morning-line favorite for the Remington Green as he bids for his third straight stakes win here.
Joining Oklahoma Derby morning-line favorite Prayer For Relief on the flight from southern California earlier this week for trainer Bob Baffert was May Day Rose. The 3-year-old filly has been tabbed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the Remington Park Oaks. She has won three races in 2011 with two of them Grade 3 scores at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park at her home tracks.
Remington Park racing continues Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 6:30pm, leading up to the special Oklahoma Derby Sunday program this weekend. The early weather forecast for Sunday is for temperatures in the low-80s with clear, sunny skies.
Open daily at 10am for casino gaming and simulcast racing, Remington Park also features Henry Hudson’s on the first floor, which opens for lunch at 11am. Admission, general parking and valet parking are always free at Remington Park.
Remington Park is Oklahoma City’s only Racetrack & Casino, located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District. For more information, reservations and group bookings please call 405-424-1000, 866-456-9880 or visit remingtonpark.com.
For more information, contact:
Dale Day
405-425-3215, 405-326-7496 (m)