For Immediate Release – Oklahoma City, Ok – October 28, 2022 — Sunlit Song continued to show his affinity for the Remington Park turf course, winning the featured allowance race in a nail-biter Thursday night.
This 7-year-old gelding won the 2020 Remington Green Stakes here and now has made it three years in a row with a win on the lawn at Remington Park. In Thursday night’s open allowance feature for 3-year-olds-and-up, going one mile over the lawn, he showed every ounce of heart in getting his nose to the wire first.
When the top three horses hit the wire together, Sunlit Song prevailed by a neck as the 2-1 second favorite over Newscaster (6-1) who was another three-quarters of a length in front of third-place finishing 3-2 favorite Tut’s Revenge.
The older son of My Golden Song, out of the Early Flyer mare Fly So True, put in tremendous efforts in the Remington Green three years in a row and just missed victory the last two years. He ran second, beaten only three-quarters of a length in 2021 after breaking dead last in a field of 11 with jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. in the saddle. He was the runner-up to Spooky Channel.
This year, jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr., was up in the Remington Green and Sunlit Song checked in second in a front-running attempt, coming up short by a half-length to Price Talk.
When he won the Remington Green in 2020, Lindey Wade got the job done by a neck over Tut’s Revenge, a horse he would face again in this rivalry on Thursday night. Stewart Elliott became the third different rider to win aboard Sunlit Song on the Remington Park turf in the latest feature win, while Leandro Goncalves was aboard for his second trip to the winner’s circle in open allowance company here in October 2021.
Mindy Willis has been this horse’s trainer since Day 1 and has conditioned the gelding to 13 wins lifetime in 36 starts. He improved to 36-13-11-4 with career earnings of $503,826. He pocketed $23,796 from the $40,000 race on Thursday night.
Elliott parked Sunlit Song a length off pacesetter Newscaster for the majority of the race, waiting with a clear path to the outside once in the final turn. There, Sunlit Song was roused and with a three-wide move, burst to encounter Newscaster early in the stretch, before battling throughout the lane to the finish, winning by a neck.
Newscaster set early fractions of ;23.88 for the first quarter-mile, :48.16 for the half-mile, 1:12.71 for three-quarters of a mile and 1:24.71 for seven-eighths of a mile. The winning time for the mile was 1:37.03 over firm footing. Tut’s Revenge made a rail move in the stretch to encounter the top two, but settled for third, a length off the winner.
Sunlit Song paid $6.20 to win, $3.20 to place and $2.40 to show across the board. His record on the Remington Park turf now is nine starts, three wins, four seconds and $141,474 earned. The hard-knocking gelding is owned by Carolyn Barnett and Becky Harding of Pollok, Texas. He was bred in Texas by Barnett.
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Tracked by more than 171,000 fans on Facebook and 10,600 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $301 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, Remington Park features the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby and Grade 3 Remington Park Oaks on Sunday, September 25. Thoroughbred racing continues through December 17 with simulcast racing daily, and a casino that is always open! Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
