For Immediate Release – Oklahoma City, OK – August 27, 2024 – It’s not often one sees the same name at the top of the owners and trainers’ standings simultaneously at a racetrack, but that’s been the plot to Dick Cappellucci’s story at Remington Park this meet.
Cappellucci, 62, is tied as the leading trainer after two weeks with 18-time title winner here, Steve Asmussen, with five wins apiece. In the owners’ standings, he is tied with Bryan Hawk with five wins apiece. Cappellucci has started six times with horses he owns, winning five and running second with one other. He laughed heartily when asked if he had kicked that one out of the barn for not winning. It’s easy to laugh when life is treating you like you have a genie’s lamp.
Both he and Asmussen have started horses 16 times at this meet, and Cappellucci knows it can be tough sledding to compete with North America’s all-time winningest trainer in the history of the sport. He revels in the fact that he has done well enough to stay head-to-head with Asmussen, who he calls his friend and even threw out the nickname he calls him.
“You don’t want to aggravate Big Blue,” Cappellucci said, laughingly, of Asmussen. “He will run you right off the map (if you do that).”
Cappellucci’s horses have run first, second and third in their races 69 percent of the time this meet, while Asmussen’s have put up a dazzling 81 percent in that category. In the owners’ race, Cappellucci’s string has won at an 83 percent clip and 100 percent in the money as an owner. Hawk has won five-of-nine for 56 percent and 78 percent across the board.
“I just try to make sure I’m consistent with my horses,” said Cappellucci, who knows this game can be fickle. “I started 1-for-25 this year at Lone Star (Park in Grand Prairie, Texas), but then went eight for my next 30. My goal is to win 20 percent of my races wherever I am.”
Cappellucci’s win rate, as a trainer this meet, is the same as Asmussen’s – 31 percent – so he’s well ahead of the game. He is the only trainer-owner with a two-time winner this meet in Equilove, a 6-year-old mare. She won her first out, the first race of the meet, with $10,000 claimers, by 3-1/2 lengths as the 3-5 wagering favorite. He ran her right back the next week for the same $10,000 claiming-tag and obviously she would be a target to be claimed, right?
“Can you believe no one claimed her?” he asked with a shocked tone. “I thought there would be five to 10 people shaking for her to be in their barn. But no, they claimed the other horse I had in the race (Rollin Chrome) who ran second.”
Equilove won that race by 3-3/4 lengths as the 3-5 favorite and Rollin Chrome was sent off at 5-1 odds.
This is only the third year for Cappellucci at Remington Park, but he has been training since 1993, according to Equibase. His father Bob and grandfather Frank were trainers and he grew up in the business.
“I remember when I was 4 years old and my older brother Jim was 6, my grandfather would get up, come to the house at 3:15 in the morning and pick us up,” said Cappellucci. “He and my father would take us to the track there in Colorado. My brother would fall asleep in my grandfather’s lap in the truck and I would fall asleep on my dad’s shoulder.
Cappellucci thought about going to college and pursue a different career than this after he was valedictorian at his high school. His bloodlines ran true, however, and he couldn’t break the chain that had fed his family for generations.
“Dad wanted me to go to college, but I’m glad I went the way I did,” he said. “In this business, you never know, though. If New Mexico had not gotten slots when they did, I might be pumping gas somewhere.”
Then his good friend, trainer Ray Ashford, convinced him to come to Oklahoma and Remington Park. That was three years ago. Cappellucci got 10 stalls that first year, 13 stallslast year and said he believes that is up to 21 this year.
After he put college on the back burner, Cappellucci purchased a horse named Ciento for $12,500.
“He went two years in a row undefeated and ran out $816,244 (according to Equibase statistics) and was a multiple stakes winner,” he said. “That ruined me for doing anythingelse. We called that horse the ATM machine.”
Cappellucci’s career marks as a trainer are 4,708 starts, 840 wins, 727 seconds and 677 thirds for horse earnings of $13,284,064. As a sole owner, Cappellucci has started 745times, winning 148, running second 123 times and third 124 more tries for a bankroll of $1,803,038.
Cappellucci has entered four horses for Thursday night’s card and likes his chances with a horse named Dean’s List in the seventh race. That 5-year-old horse by Speightstown, out of the Sharp Humor mare Mildly Offensive, is owned by Judge Lanier Racing and James C. Drought. Cappellucci’s run comes nowhere near the last name of that owner.
“Your friends razz you about how you’re getting so many winners,” Cappellucci said, “but they’re just joking. I get a lot of support from my racetrack family. It doesn’t matter how many you win or how big the race is. I’m close to 900 wins now, but I still get excited about a $5,000 claimer getting to the wire first. You just want to turn and high-five whoever is standing closest to you.”
Remington Park racing continues this week with a Thursday-Saturday night schedule, Aug. 29-31, with first post time at 6:30 p.m. Central nightly.
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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.