VON HEMEL LEADS STELLAR GROUP FOR INDUCTION TO OKLAHOMA HORSE RACING HALL OF FAME AT REMINGTON PARK
OKLAHOMA CITY – Remington Park is proud to announce the inaugural group of inductees representing Thoroughbred racing into the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame. A celebration banquet in their honor will be held Tuesday, Oct. 11 at Remington Park, 6-9pm in the Silks Restaurant.
The event helps begin the Remington Park build up to the $400,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sunday, Oct. 16, the state’s richest Thoroughbred race.
Trainers
Donnie Von Hemel, Remington Park’s all-time leading conditioner and the only trainer to saddle more than one Oklahoma Derby winner, enjoying a winner’s circle ceremony three times in 1989 (Clever Trevor), 1991 (Queen’s Gray Bee) and 2007 (Going Ballistic). Von Hemel has also found great success around North America during his career, including this season with back-to-back graded stakes wins with Caleb’s Posse at Saratoga Racecourse in New York.
Joining Von Hemel from the trainer category is the late Chuck Taliaferro. A two-time leading trainer at Remington Park in 1989 and 1990, Taliaferro still ranks among the leaders locally for stakes victories with 18, over 15 years after his passing. Among the many stakes winners he saddled at Remington Park are No More Hard Times and Wicked Destiny, winner of the 1990 Oklahoma Derby. Taliaferro’s career was widespread prior to the opening of Remington Park with plenty of success around the country. He also influenced the careers of such National Racing Hall of Fame jockeys as Steve Cauthen and Gary Stevens. Since his death, the leading Thoroughbred trainer award at Remington Park has been named in honor of Taliaferro.
Owners
John & Barbara Smicklas of Norman, Okla., the most successful owners at Remington Park with more stakes wins than any other, are just one owning partnership to be celebrated. Successful breeders as well, the Smicklas’ campaigned the likes of No More Hard Times, Brush With Pride, Belle Of Cozzene, Zee Oh Six and many others throughout Remington Park’s history.
Tulsa, Okla. owners John & Debbie Oxley, winners of the 2001 Kentucky Derby with Monarchos, and William & Suzanne Warren, who campaigned 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam, will be recognized as well.
Ran Ricks, Jr., a prominent Thoroughbred owner and breeder, and instrumental in helping bring pari-mutuel racing to Oklahoma in the 1980s, will also be honored. Ricks was the first owner to stable a horse at Remington Park when it opened in 1988 and won nine stakes races prior to his passing in 1996. The leading Thoroughbred owner award at Remington Park is named in honor of Ricks.
Horses
A group of four horses will receive the first induction to the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame, led by Clever Trevor, who won the first Oklahoma Derby and went on to become a millionaire. He represented the state and Remington Park so well through his career that continued thru 1992. Clever Trevor was retired to Robin’s Nest Farm in Piedmont at the home of his trainer Donnie Von Hemel and his wife Robin, where he continues to enjoy his retirement now at the age of 25.
Also honored will be Lady’s Secret, an Oklahoma-bred who never competed in state but had tremendous success in winning the top races for females during the mid-1980s. She won the 1986 Breeders’ Cup Distaff and also defeated males in the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga on her way to Horse of the Year honors in 1986. She was inducted into the National Racing Hall of Fame in 1992.
Millionaire Oklahoma-bred Mr Ross, a multiple Remington Park stakes winner, will be inducted along with 1958 Horse of the Year Round Table.
Jockeys
The 2011 class of jockeys represent the largest contingent going into the Hall of Fame. The group includes Remington Park champions and legends as well as National Hall of Fame riders. The inaugural list for the Thoroughbred Induction to the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame includes jockeys Bobby Ussery, John Sellers, Pat Steinberg, Tim Doocy, John Lively, Don Pettinger and Remington Park’s all-time leading rider Cliff Berry.
Jockeys Bobby Ussery and John Sellers both represented Oklahoma during spectacular careers that included victories in many of the top North American events. All well before pari-mutuel racing and Remington Park existed in Oklahoma.
Ussery was born in Vian, Okla. in 1935 and began a riding career with a victory in his very first race at Fair Grounds in New Orleans in 1951 at the age of 16. He found success in most of the biggest races presented including a triumph in the 1967 Kentucky Derby aboard Proud Clarion. A fixture on the east coast in a career that concluded in 1974, Ussery became just the 10th jockey to win more than 3,000 races, finishing with 3,611 overall. He was inducted into the National Racing Hall of Fame in 1980.
Born in Los Angeles then raised in Claremore, Okla., Sellers began a riding career in 1955 that would lead him to induction in the National Racing Hall of Fame at Saratoga, NY in 2007. He enjoyed his greatest year in 1961 when he won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes aboard Carry Back. That year, Sellers was the nation’s leading rider in victories with 328 and second in mount earnings with $2.14 million. He was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated on Aug. 28, 1961. Sellers passed in 2010 at the age of 72.
Steinberg was Remington Park’s all-time leading jockey at the time of his sudden passing in 1993 with 722 career wins in Oklahoma City. He had won nine consecutive Remington Park riding titles, dominating the riding colony during the track’s first five years. Steinberg won the Oklahoma Derby with Queen’s Gray Bee in 1991, just one of his 52 stakes wins here. He had secured his final local riding title in May 1993 before passing in an automobile accident just two days later. The leading Thoroughbred jockey honor at Remington Park is named after Steinberg.
Doocy holds the Remington Park record for most riding victories in a season with 127, set in 1997. He also won five local riding titles and the 1999 Oklahoma Derby aboard Temperence Time. Doocy became just the 25th jockey in racing history to win 5,000 career races, achieving the honor in April 2009 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.
Lively, raised in Westville, Okla., won the
very first Remington Park riding title in 1988 with 85 wins. He
was nearing the conclusion of an illustrious career when he
captured his lone crown in Oklahoma City. Well-known throughout
the Midwest, Lively was a mainstay in the summers at Ak-sar-ben
in Omaha where he led the riding colony 10 times. He also posted
national victories, including his score in the 1976 Preakness
Stakes aboard Elocutionist, just two weeks after finishing third
on the colt in the Kentucky Derby won by Bold Forbes.
Pettinger and Cliff Berry will also be honored. They were
officially named to the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame in
2008. The only two riders in Remington Park history to win more
than 1,000 local races, Pettinger posted his riding titles in
1994 and 1995 after routinely finishing just behind Steinberg in
the standings during the first few Remington Park seasons.
Pettinger rode first-call for Donnie Von Hemel and had the
winning mount on Clever Trevor in the first Oklahoma Derby in
1989. His 127 stakes victories at Remington Park still lead all
riders. He is the only jockey to achieve 100 or more local
stakes wins.
Berry has amassed 13 local titles in Oklahoma City and also holds the record for most wins in one race card, posting seven scores from as many mounts on Dec. 9, 2010. He has won a pair of Oklahoma Derbies with Comic Truth (2003) and Mr. Pursuit (2006). Prior to Remington Park’s existence, Berry was a leading rider at Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw, Okla. and even rode at Midway Downs in Stroud, Okla. as a teenager. He is Remington Park’s all-time leader in wins, just 20 victories shy of 1,800 heading to racing this week, Sept. 28-Oct. 1.
The 2011 Thoroughbred Induction Ceremony to the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame will be held in the Silks Restaurant at Remington Park from 6-9pm on Oct. 11. The banquet includes a cocktail reception, dinner, and the induction ceremony. For reservations, please call 405-425-4081 or email tony.zemmama@remingtonpark.com
The 2011 Remington Park Thoroughbred Season continues thru Dec. 10 and will be highlighted by the 23rd Oklahoma Derby on Sunday, Oct. 16.
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)