For Immediate Release – Oklahoma City, OK – August 8, 2024 – Unload will be trying to break through as a stakes winner for the first time as North America’s all-time winningest trainer, Steve Asmussen, has entered the 2-1morning-line favorite in the $100,000 Governor’s Cup Stakes on the opening night of the Remington Park Thoroughbred Season, Friday, Aug. 16.
The first post time at Remington Park has changed to 6:30 p.m. Central this season with the Governor’s Cup scheduled for 10:51 p.m. as the 10th of 10 races on the card.
The 4-year-old gelded son of Gun Runner, out of the Tapit mare Untapped, will be ridden by last year’s runaway top jockey at Remington Park, Stewart Elliott. The Governor’s Cup has a field of six for the 1-1/8 miles trip over the main track surface.
Unload has won two races in seven tries, finishing second another time and third twice, banking lifetime earnings of $167,710 for owner Winchell Thoroughbreds. The Kentucky-bred gelding broke his maiden in the third start of his career at Ellis Park in Kentucky by 4-3/4 lengths on June 25, 2023. Unload then won against allowance non-winners-of-two company by 4-3/4 lengths in wire-to-wire fashion this spring on May 18 at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Unload’s most impressive race, however, may have been his last out when he ran second in the Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, to stablemate Red Route One, who is also owned by Winchell. Unload had a two-length lead in the 1-1/8 miles race coming into the stretch and was only beaten by a half-length by his barn mate at the wire. To put that into perspective, Red Route One is a winner of $1,807,475 in his career, and was a near winner in last year’s Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby, losing to a stablemate in that one, How Did He Do That, by a nose. Red Route One also won the Grade 3 $500,000 West Virginia Derby last year.
Asmussen had three stakes wins here last year, taking down the two cornerstone races of the meet – the Oklahoma Derby, and the $300,000 Springboard Mile with Otto the Conqueror.
The competitors that will be trying to beat the favorite in this year’s Governor’s Cup include the defending champion, Paluxy, the 3-1 second favorite. He is trained by Scott Young. Paluxy is a 6-year-old Kentucky-bred gelded son of Brody’s Cause, out of the Master Command mare Miss Pippa. He won this race last year with jockey Floyd Wethey, Jr., bringing him from dead last to win in the final strides by a head over the heavy 3-5 betting favorite, Warrant, from the barn of nationally acclaimed trainer Brad Cox. Paluxy went off at 24-1 odds and paid $51.40 to win. That was in a field of seven. This year, he will try to catch them all against only five other horses.
In a bit of a twist, Wethey has chosen not to ride Paluxy in this year’s edition, opting for the Karen Jacks-trained-and-owned Without a Trace (9-2 fourth favorite in the morning line). It appears Wethey has picked the prevailing early speed in the race as Without a Trace has won his last two starts among allowance horses at Lone Star Park with his gate-to-wire style. The 4-year-old Kentucky-bred gelded son of Bernardini, out of the Indian Charlie mare Tracings, has covered the first half mile of those races in 46-seconds-and-change on the front end, while Unload’s route speed shows him winning while controlling early paces that were closer to 48-seconds for the first half. Without a Trace’s record is 7-3-1-1 with a bankroll of $72,797 for Jacks.
If you’re Paluxy and you’re going to lose your rider to another horse, it’s not a bad trade out when you get four-time top jockey at Remington Park, David Cabrera. He won the riding title here in 2018 with 95 wins, 2019 with 83 victories, 2020 with 96 and 2021 with 90 trips to the winner’s circle. Paluxy’s career record for Blue and Gold Racing (Mike Combs) of Kingfisher, Okla., is 24-7-5-4 for $255,078 in earnings.
The third favorite in the morning-line odds is multiple stakes winner Number One Dude, owned by Terry Westemeir of Broken Arrow, Okla. This Oklahoma home-bred for Westemeir at 6-years-old has won the Red Earth Stakes, the Jim Thorpe Stakes, the Oklahoma Stallion Stakes for colts and geldings, the Don McNeill Stakes, and the Oklahoma Classics Juvenile Stakes. All five of those black-type victories came at Remington Park against Oklahoma-breds. He has won two other stakes at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla. He ran fourth in the Governor’s Cup last year and is listed at 4-1 odds for this year’s version with jockey Richard Eramia named. His lifetime running line is 30-10-9-2 for $536,685. He is the top earner in the field.
Paluxy and Number One Dude got their final workouts at Remington Park on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, prepping for this race.
Paluxy covered four furlongs on Wednesday in a time of :50.07 handily with Wethey in the saddle. On Thursday, Number One Dude, with jockey Eramia in the irons, covered four furlongs in :49.27 handily.
Here is the field for the Governor’s Cup with post position, horse, jockey, trainer and odds:
- Mine That Star, Harry Hernandez, Dick Cappellucci, 6-1
- Forced Ranking, Lindey Wade, Schuyler Condon, 5-1
- Paluxy, Cabrera, Young, 3-1
- Unload, Elliott, Asmussen, 2-1 (morning-line favorite)
- Without a Trace, Wethey, Jacks, 9-2
- Number One Dude, Eramia, Young, 4-1
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Remington Park has provided more than $357 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 presents simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. The 2024 Thoroughbred Season will begin on August 16. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
