For Immediate Release – Oklahoma City, OK, October 10, 2023 – There is a sure thing involved with this year’s 31st edition of the $111,000 Oklahoma Classics Distaff Handicap; there will be a new winner on Friday, Oct. 20, as three-time defending champion She’s All Wolfe was retired after her 2022 triumph.
A total of 29 Oklahoma-bred females have been nominated to 1 mile-70 yard event at Remington Park
She’s All Wolfe, owned and bred by Dr. Robert Zoellner of Tulsa, Okla., won in 2020, 2021 and 2022 for trainer Donnie Von Hemel and jockey Richard Eramia. Her mother, She’s All In won this race for Zoellner and Von Hemel in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. These connections have owned this race. So, with She’s All Wolfe no longer involved, 29 possibilities will be vying for the distaff crown.
Da Prairie Girl has been high-weighted for this handicap, listed to carry 123 pounds in the race and for good reason. Even though she is lightly raced as a 5-year-old, she has been the most consistent sort of any of those nominated. There are some far more experienced, but this daughter of Da Stoops, out of the Chief Seattle mare She Loves Me Now, has been first or second in six-of-nine times, winning four of those. Da Prairie Girl has earned $117,325 for her owner-trainer Roger Neff. She has won two of her last four starts, but has never raced in stakes company. All nine of her starts have come at Remington Park, so she loves the track surface.
Her two most recent wins came against allowance fillies and mares and both were in 2022 at one mile over this track. She won on Nov. 8, 2022, at Remington Park against allowance non-winners of two-other-than by a head for jockey Carlos Montalvo in open company. She followed that up with another victory over a muddy track on Dec. 10 here by 3-3/4 lengths against Oklahoma-bred fillies and mares. She was bred by Nona Buley. Da Prairie Girl had a long layoff after last year. She did not race from Dec. 11 last year to Sept. 14 of this year, nine months on hiatus. When she did return for her only start of this meet, she ran second at 5-1 odds in a $40,000 allowance race for Oklahoma-bred fillies and mares. She was the runner-up to veteran Dicey, who won that race by 1-1/4 lengths, going six furlongs on a fast main track on Sept. 15.
Rainbows Are Free, Red River Witch and Sure Shot Shelly are the next three highest weighted horses for the race at 122 pounds. Rainbows Are Free is a 4-year-old filly by Blueskiesandrainbows, out of the With Approval mare Synersis, and she has won 3-of-14 lifetime for earnings of $75,067. Racing for owner and breeder Doug Wall and trainer Boyd Caster, she most recently ran second in the $50,000 Bob Barry Memorial Stakes, but that was on the grass at 7-1/2 furlongs. She has been cross-nominated to the $99,600 Oklahoma Classics Distaff Turf. Rainbows Are Free won’t have to face Dicey again on Classics night as she is only nominated to the Oklahoma Classics Distaff Sprint on the dirt.
Red River Witch, a 3-year-old filly by Wilburn, from the Foreign Policy mare Foreign Sultress, has won three of her last four starts for owner Scattered Acres (Robert Garrett) and trainer Andy Gladd. She won twice at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla., this spring, on April 11 and May 2. She then stepped up in class from conditional claimers to the $55,000 Cinema Stakes for Oklahoma-bred fillies and mares at WRD on May 8. Red River Witch handled the jump nicely, running third, beaten only 1-1/2 lengths by Tom’s Girl. Doudoudouwanadance ran second in that race, a half-length ahead of Red River Witch. Doudoudouwanadance was also nominated to the Oklahoma Classics Distaff and weighted at 119.
Red River Witch’s most recent start was a trip to the winner’s circle at Remington Park when she won a seven-furlong race in the $50,000 Oklahoma Stallion Stakes in the fillies division. The injured David Cabrera was aboard for that victory. Her career record is 12 starts, four wins and three thirds for $64,618 in earnings. She was bred by her owner.
Sure Shot Shelly, a 5-year-old mare by Dialed In, out of the Henny Hughes mare L T Reckless, races for owner Michael Grossman of Fredericksburg, Texas, and trainer Francisco Bravo. She has won two of her last three races, both in allowance company. She won on May 15 at WRD by 2-1/4 lengths in a conditioned allowance race at six furlongs. After shipping to Remington Park following a four-month vacation, she ran seventh by 13-1/4 lengths in an Oklahoma-bred fillies and mare allowance race, followed by a hard-fought dead-heat win in an allowance sprint in open company for fillies and mares. Sure Shot Shelly dead-heated with Rosy Edge in the six-furlongs sprint under jockey Floyd Wethey, Jr. They finished 3-3/4 lengths ahead of the third-place finisher, Dixiefied. Sure Shot Shelly’s career record is 11 starts with four wins, one second and three thirds for a bankroll of $95,074. She was bred by Eureka Thoroughbred Farm.
The Distaff Handicap is part of a full-night of stakes events for Oklahoma-breds on Oklahoma Classics Night. The post-position draw for that evening will take place on Thursday, Oct. 12 in the Remington Park racing office.
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Remington Park racing continues Wednesday through Saturday, Oct. 11-14. The first post time nightly is 7:07 p.m. CDT.
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Remington Park has provided more than $331 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 is home to the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby and the Grade 3 Remington Park Oaks on Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023. Remington Park presents simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. Parking and admission are always free. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
