Oklahoma City, OK, December 1, 2024 – Five stakes winners and six more horses that are stakes-placed were among 33 juveniles nominated to the $300,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park. The track’s top event for 2-year-olds is the headliner on the final night of the season, Friday, Dec. 13.
The Springboard Mile once again carries valuable qualifying points for the 2025 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
Two of the top three trainers in the nation were prominent in the nominations, including the sport’s all-time top conditioner in history – Steve Asmussen. Currently second in the country in horses’ earnings this year, behind only Chad Brown, Asmussen has won the Springboard Mile an unprecedented seven times. He has nominated four to this year’s edition. Asmussen’s horses have earned more than $27 million this year, second only to Brown’s $30 million-plus, according to Equibase statistics.
Brad Cox, who is third in earnings this year, about a million dollars behind Asmussen, had the most nominations to the Springboard Mile with seven 2-year-olds. Among his top juveniles that Cox could enter is the undefeated Sacrosanct, a New York-bred colt by Honest Mischief, out of the Unbridled’s Song mare Vibrato, owned by Lady Sheila Stable, Net Birdie and Schwing Thoroughbreds. Sacrosanct is three-for-three in his career with two stakes wins – the $125,000 Bertram F. Bongard Stakes (Sept. 22) and the $200,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes (Oct. 27), both for New York-breds at Belmont at Aqueduct, earning $228,250 in those races.
Cox’s other Springboard nominees are Admiral Dennis, Comes a Time, Disco Time, Hot Property, Instant Replay and Uncle Jim. All are maiden winners, a couple of them certainly passing the eye test in their maiden events, looking to take that next step up. Disco Time was a 3-3/4 lengths winner at first asking in a maiden special weight open race at seven furlongs at Churchill Downs on Nov. 1. Admiral Dennis won at the Springboard Mile distance in his maiden event at Churchill by 3-1/2 lengths on Nov. 7; Hot Property won by 3-3/4 lengths in his career debut at Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Nov. 24, going 1-1/16 miles, and Uncle Jim won by three lengths at first asking at Keeneland on Oct. 17, going seven furlongs.
Asmussen, leading trainer at Remington Park, going for his 19th training title here, has no stakes winners nominated, but he has some interesting 2-year-olds if the weather comes up sloppy and wet on Springboard Mile day. Blue Angel broke his maiden over a sloppy track at Remington Park on Nov. 18, Extradition won for the first time over a sloppy Churchill Downs track on Nov. 2 and Keeno has proven he can be competitive at the mile distance after running second against first-level allowance horses on Nov. 25 at Remington Park, losing to Brooklyn Alley Cat by 1-1/4 lengths.
Another Asmussen nominee is Complex Music who has had six races, all sprints. He has been soundly defeated in stakes races the only two times he has tried black-type company, but then he comes back in his last start, winning an allowance race for non-winners of two by eight lengths at Horseshoe Indianapolis on Oct. 22.
Complex Music tried stakes horses for the first time in the $100,000 Prairie Gold Juvenile Stakes at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, on July 6 and ran sixth, beaten 16 lengths. That was a 5-1/2-furlong race. Asmussen moved him to Kentucky Downs for his next start and switched him to the grass in the $1,000,000 National Thoroughbred League Juvenile Sprint Stakes at 6-1/2 furlongs greensward. He finished seventh, beaten 12-1/4 lengths.
Asmussen’s seven Springboard winners include Otto the Conqueror (2023), Shoplifted (2019), Long Range Toddy (2018), Bayerd (2014), Test Boy (2005), Smooth Bid (2004) and Shawklit Man (2002).
Doug O’Neill, a multiple Kentucky Derby-winning trainer from the West Coast, who won the 2016 Derby with Nyquist and 2012 with I’ll Have Another, has nominated three juveniles to the Springboard.
O’Neill has been a magician with 2-year-olds and may need some more as two of the three he has nominated are still maidens and the other is a maiden winner. Only one of his three has dipped into the stakes pool and that is Rank, still a maiden, but raced in the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity in California, running sixth at seven furlongs, beaten 13 lengths.
The O’Neill maiden winner is Dr Ruben M, who won by three-quarters of a length at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., on Oct. 14 at the one-mile distance against open maiden horses.
The Remington Park flag will be carried well by at least three possible entries – undefeated Jolly Samurai, three-time winner Mister Omaha, and Dominant Spirit.
Jolly Samurai, an $8,000 purchase by owner Jake Brown, trained by Danny Pish, has won all three of his starts at Remington Park, including the $75,000 Kip Deville Stakes on Sept. 29 at six furlongs and then the $75,000 Clever Trevor on Oct. 25 when he stretched out to seven furlongs.
Mister Omaha, a three-time winner from the barn of Oklahoma Hall of Fame trainer Joe Offolter, has won his last three starts at Remington for leading owner Bryan Hawk, including the $76,000 Oklahoma Classics Juvenile Stakes on Oct. 18 and the $50,000 Don McNeill Stakes on Nov. 8. Both of those were restricted to Oklahoma-breds, but they were both eye-catching. Mister Omaha has arguably shown the most versatility among 2-year-olds on the grounds, winning on a fast main track in the Oklahoma Classics Juvenile going six furlongs and then stretching out to one mile and winning on a sloppy surface in the Don McNeill. Veteran rider Luis Quinonez, the second winningest jockey in Remington Park history, has been aboard for all three trips to the winner’s circle.
Dominant Spirit is a lightly raced youngster from trainer Bret Calhoun’s barn, winning his career debut by 4-3/4 lengths sprinting five furlongs and then going straight into the Clever Trevor, where he had the lead at the top of the stretch against Jolly Samurai before losing by only a half-length. Dominant Spirit is owned by Martin Racing Stable, Bob Gorsky, Circustown Racing Stables and D and B Racing. Calhoun is tied for second-place all-time in Springboard wins with two – Louies Flower in 2013 and Grant Jack in 2010.
The other stakes winners nominated for the Springboard include Coal Battle and Scorching.
Coal Battle who won the $100,000 Jean Lafitte Stakes at Delta Downs in Louisiana on Nov. 8 at 6-1/2 furlongs for owner Norman Stables and trainer Lonnie Briley. Scorching, won the $200,000 Simcoe Stakes at Woodbine in Canada at 6-1/2 furlongs on a synthetic surface on Aug. 25, and then was elevated from second to first in the $250,000 Cup and Saucer Stakes at Woodbine at 1-1/16 miles over the grass on Oct. 6. He did all this for owners Paul Braverman and Timothy Pinch and trainer John Charalambous.
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Remington Park has provided more than $363 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 when the $300,000 Springboard Mile tops the final night of the season. The major 2-year-old stakes race of the season, the Springboard awards valuable 2025 Kentucky Derby qualifying points. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
