For Immediate Release – Oklahoma City, OK – August 17, 2024 – The cream rose to the top opening night Friday as 18-time leading trainer at Remington Park, Steve Asmussen, and last year’s leading rider, Stewart Elliott, combined with Unload to win the $100,000 Governor’s Cup.
The race for older horses was the feature event on the Opening Night of the Thoroughbred season.
It wasn’t as easy as Unload’s 4-5 off odds might indicate, however. The 4-year-old gelded son of Gun Runner had to dig in his heals as Without a Trace moved to him in the stretchand battled with the favorite for the final furlong. In the end, Unload prevailed for owner Winchell Thoroughbreds by a head in the 1-1/8th miles race on the fast main track.
“I thought that horse on my outside might have me,” Elliott said. “But my horse got serious and dug in.”
Last year’s leading rider at Remington Park with 74 wins, Elliott was back in the saddle for the first time since he had a hairline fracture of the sacrum at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, a little more than three months ago. That is the triangular bone that forms the base of the spine and the center of the pelvis. The 59-year-old jockey said he felt good about his return on a night when he won twice.
“You always feel like you have prepared yourself,” Elliott said. “But you never know until you ride one.”
Only jockey Floyd Wethey, Jr., had more wins on opening night, scoring a riding triple. If the horse on Elliott’s outside, Without a Trace, had won, it would have been Wethey’s fourth victory, but he couldn’t quite finish the deal on his 8-1 longshot for owner-trainer Karen Jacks.
It was the seventh win in the Governor’s Cup for Asmussen, but his first since 2018 when he sent out Hence for the win. The 33rd-renewal provided the first win of this stakes for Elliott and Winchell.
“I’m ready for whatever they send in to run here,” Elliott said of these connections.
Unload, a Kentucky-bred gelding out of the Tapit mare Untapped, was a wire-to-wire winner in a time of 1:51.90. It was the winner’s third win in only eight starts for his career and first stakes win. He was bred in Kentucky by the owner.
Unload had shown his class in his last race, losing by only a half-length to Red Route One in the Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, onJuly 6 at this same distance. Red Route One is a multiple graded stakes winner who won the Grade 3, $500,000 West Virginia Derby as a 3-year-old and ran fourth in the Grade 1, $1.65 million Preakness Stakes.
Unload was sent to the front right out of the gate and made every pole a winning one. His interior fractions were :24.72 for the first quarter-mile, :49.69 for the half-mile, 1:13.89 for six furlongs, and 1:38.90 for the mile.
Without a Trace was another 2-3/4 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Mine That Star, the second favorite at 7-5. The rest of the order of finish was: Number One Dude (14-1) fourth, Forced Ranking (18-1) fifth and the defending champion of this race, Paluxy (10-1) in sixth.
Unload paid $3.80 to win, $2.60 to place and $2.10 to show. He earned $60,000 for Winchell and improved his record to 8-3-1-2 for earnings of $227,710.
Remington Park continues the opening weekend of racing with a 10-race program on Saturday, August 17, 2024.
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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 continues through Dec. 13. The Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby takes place on Sunday, Sept. 29. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.