For Immediate Release
Thursday, December 8, 2011
$300,000 Springboard Mile, the 11th Running of Remington Park’s Marquee Thoroughbred Juvenile Event
OKLAHOMA CITY – The $300,000 Springboard Mile, the biggest 2-year-old race of the 2011 Remington Park Thoroughbred Season, drew a dozen for its 11th edition.
The race was first contested in 2001 and has been dominated through its history by trainer Steve Asmussen who has won the race three times. Trainer Joe Petalino is the only other trainer to win the race more than once. Asmussen is well represented with three of the 12 entrants in the 2011 Springboard hailing from his operation. Petalino will saddle one in the final race of the season on Saturday night.
Jockey Cliff Berry has won three Springboards from the previous 10 and is still the only rider with multiple wins in the race.
No owners have won the Springboard more than once.
The $300,000 Springboard Mile will be the ninth and final race on the Saturday night card, thus making it the final race of the Remington Park season. The scheduled post time for the race is at 10:14pm. The night will begin at 6:30pm. All times are central.
Following is a horse-by-horse look at the contestants in the Springboard Mile.
1 SEEKER, 2-1 Morning-line favorite (entry)
The front and heavier half of the coupled same-owner entry from Winchell Thoroughbreds of Las Vegas, Nev. Seeker and Basalt, both from the barn of trainer Steve Asmussen, make up two-thirds of the contingent for the man who annually dominates the North American trainer standings. While winning three of the 10 previous Springboard Miles, Asmussen has not posted a win in the race since 2005 when he won with Test Boy. Seeker is the bigger player in the entry based on his recent fourth-place effort in the Grade 2, $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint on Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
Jockey Corey Nakatani will be brought in from his New York City base, currently at Aqueduct, to ride Seeker. It will be his first ride on the Hard Spun colt and he is seeking his first win in the Springboard.
Seeker has one win to his credit after breaking his maiden status at Saratoga in upstate New York this summer. Bred in Kentucky by his owner, Seeker also has a pair of third-place efforts on his resume including the Grade 2, $150,000 Nashua Stakes at Belmont Park in October.
Seeker will leave the starting gate from the fourth post position. This is his first attempt at the one-mile distance.
1A BASALT, 2-1 Morning-line favorite (entry)
The other half of the Winchell-owned entry, Basalt, will leave right outside of Seeker from post number five. Basalt broke his maiden in his Remington Park debut in November. Luis Quinonez will have the mount for the first time on the Kentucky-bred colt by Giant’s Causeway.
2 RECKLESS JERRY, 20-1
Owned by Toby Keith’s Dream Walkin Farms of Norman, Okla., Reckless Jerry is trained by Kenny Smith and will be ridden by Shane Laviolette. All connections are in search of their first Springboard triumph. A Kentucky-bred colt by Cactus Ridge, Reckless Jerry is one of five horses in the Springboard field that can boast a victory in a race at least a mile in length. He has won two consecutive races this season at Remington Park, breaking his maiden over a sloppy track in mid-September followed by an allowance win in his only mile race in late October. Laviolette has been aboard for both victories.
3 PEE H DEE, 20-1
The Springboard will be the first start over a conventional dirt surface for Pee H Dee. He started his career with a pair of races at Del Mar in southern California where the main racing surface is synthetic. Owned by furniture magnate James McIngvale of Houston and trained by Chris Richard, Pee H Dee moved to Remington Park in October and has had a pair of outs over the turf course here, winning his second attempt which also broke his maiden, going 1-1/16 miles. The Kentucky-bred colt by Tale Of The Cat will be ridden for the first time by Bryan McNeil. All connections for Pee H Dee are seeking their first Springboard score.
4 FLASHY KID, 15-1
Owned by Just For Fun Stable of Davie, Fla. and trained by Juan Arias, Flashy Kid will make his first Remington Park start in the Springboard under Sebastian Madrid who is in to ride after finishing the season at Woodbine in Toronto, Canada. Flashy Kid most recently posted a third-place effort in the $200,000 Jean Lafitte Stakes at Delta Downs in Vinton, La. The Indiana-bred colt by Flashy Bull broke his maiden in the race prior to that stakes attempt while competing against fellow state-breds at Hoosier Park in Anderson, Ind. He is one of just two runners in the Springboard not bred in Kentucky, the other is Ted’s Folly (Oklahoma).
All the connections for Flashy Kid are attempting to win their first Springboard.
5 FIRE ALARM, 15-1
Remington Park leading jockey Cliff Berry, seeking his 14th Pat Steinberg Award as the track’s leading rider, is also in search of his fourth score in the Springboard. Berry is the defending champ in the race, winning the 2010 edition aboard Grant Jack. He’ll ride Fire Alarm for the same trainer who saddled Grant Jack as Bret Calhoun tries for his second consecutive win in the Springboard.
A Kentucky-bred colt by 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus, Fire Alarm broke his maiden at Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pa. at 1 mile-70 yards before running fourth in his most recent start at 1-1/16 miles, facing allowance foes at Churchill Downs in October.
Fire Alarm is owned by Gary & Mary West Stables of Omaha, Neb. They are trying to win their first Springboard.
6 MR BLUEGRASS MUSIC, 6-1
A Kentucky-bred colt by Bluegrass Cat, Mr Bluegrass Music comes into the Springboard after a third-place effort in the 2-year-old stakes race that is designed to feed the event, the $100,000 Clever Trevor Stakes on Nov. 11 at Remington Park. He is the only horse that ran in that race to enter the Springboard as the rest of the field of seven opted elsewhere.
Owned by Jac Mac Stable and C.E. Formby of Hot Springs, Ark., Mr Bluegrass Music is trained by Richard Jackson and will be ridden by Chris Landeros. The colt broke his maiden under Landeros at first asking on Oct. 5 at Remington Park and has had just two races to date. All of his connections are looking for their first win in the Springboard.
7 ALTERNATIVE, 20-1
Two-time Springboard winning trainer Joe Petalino is looking for the career hat-trick in the race with Alternative, a Kentucky-bred colt by Limehouse, owned by Baccari Racing Stable of Lexington, Ky. The owners are gunning for their second win in the race, having teamed with Petalino for victory with Kick On in 2008.
Alternative comes into the Springboard tied with the second-most career outs of any in the field, having started five times, all this season at Remington Park. The colt is still a maiden although he did face stakes company in the $75,000 Kip Deville Stakes in October, the first major 2-year-old stakes event of the season. Alternative finished fourth in that race, beaten 7-1/4 lengths.
Jockey Belen Quinonez will be reunited with Alternative. He rode the colt in his first four attempts, including his effort in the Kip Deville. Quinonez is seeking his first Springboard win.
8 STRONG RESOLVE, 20-1
Owned by Pin Oak Stable of Versailles, Ky., Strong Resolve is trained by Remington Park’s all-time leading conditioner Donnie Von Hemel. The Kentucky-bred colt broke his maiden in Oklahoma City during his last start, a 7-1/2 furlong turf event on Sept. 14. His Springboard effort will come just shy of three months since his last race. Jockey Lindey Wade, up for his maiden win earlier this season, has the call.
While owner and jockey are bidding for their initial Springboard triumph, Von Hemel has been in the winner’s circle of the race before, scoring with Going Ballistic in 2006. That winner would move on to win the Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park in 2007.
9 TED’S FOLLY, 5-1
The only gelding and only Oklahoma-bred in this year’s Springboard, Ted’s Folly has made quite a name for himself this season at Remington Park. His nickname could be ‘Perfect’ as he has yet to experience defeat during the meeting, posting five consecutive wins in as many starts. A star Oklahoma-bred, Ted’s Folly has won the $79,000 Oklahoma Classics Juvenile and the $50,000 Oklahoma Stallion Stakes in last two attempts in October and November respectively.
Owned by Steve Martin of Morrison, Okla., the Wild Tale gelding leads all entrants with career earnings of $141,979 from his seven starts this year. He is one of just three runners in the field who have won more than a single race. Should Ted’s Folly win, it would be the initial Springboard for Martin.
Ted’s Folly is trained by Wilson Brown who saddled the very first winner of the race in 2001 when It’sallinthechase was successful. Jockey Jose Medina has ridden Ted’s Folly in all of his local outs and will be up again Saturday as he tries for his first Springboard win.
10 PLEASANT CLOSING, 15-1
The third colt in the field trained by Steve Asmussen, Pleasant Closing is owned by Maggi Moss of Des Moines, Iowa. A Kentucky-bred colt by Closing Argument, Pleasant Closing has made all three of his career starts this season in Oklahoma City.
While he is familiar with Remington Park, Pleasant Closing has yet to become familiar with just one jockey. The Springboard will have the fourth different rider in as many lifetime attempts for Pleasant Closing as Alex Birzer gets the assignment. The colt broke his maiden by four lengths in a one-mile $25,000-level maiden-claiming event on the undercard of the Clever Trevor Stakes on Nov. 11, ridden that night by Cliff Berry who has opted for Fire Alarm in the Springboard.
Owner Moss and jockey Birzer both seek their first Springboard win while Asmussen is poised for his history-leading fourth.
11 NO SPIN, 4-1
Drawing second-status in the morning-line is No Spin at 4-1 odds. Belmont Stakes winning trainer Tim Ice sent the colt to Oklahoma City off his recent win in the $60,000 Royal Glint Stakes over the Hawthorne turf course in Chicago on Oct. 29. Prior to that victory, No Spin ran fourth in the Grade 3, $100,000 Arlington-Washington Futurity at Arlington Park in September and then was sixth in the Grade 1, $300,000 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park in October.
Owned by Leonard Blach and Ray Willis, No Spin has won two of five career starts. Blach was part owner of Kentucky Derby winning longshot Mine That Bird in 2009. Ice trained Summer Bird to victory in the 2009 Belmont Stakes, a race in which Mine That Bird ran third.
Jockey Chris Rosier will have the mount on No Spin, his first time aboard the 2-year-old Kentucky-bred colt by Johannesburg. Rosier is in to ride from his Delta Downs base in Vinton, La. None of the connections for No Spin have won a Springboard.
Open daily at 10am for casino gaming and simulcast racing, Remington Park also features Henry Hudson’s and the Bricktown Brewery, both opening daily 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.
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information, contact:
Dale Day
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