Oklahoma City, OK, December 12, 2024 –
Individual capsules for $300,000 Springboard Mile
Remington Park, Friday, December 13, 2024, Race 12 – Approximate post 10:26 p.m.
1 – Coal Battle, 10-1
Owner: Norman Stables, Thomasville, Ala.
Trainer: Lonnie Briley
Jockey: Juan Vargas
The leading earner in the race is this Kentucky-bred colt by Coal Front, out of the Midshipman mare Wolfblade with $127,625. Coal Battle recently won the $100,000 Jean Laffite Stakes (Nov. 8) at Delta Downs in Vinton, La. This colt was bred by Hume Wornall and Jay Adcock, and was bought for $70,000 at the Texas Thoroughbred Association Yearling Sale in 2023. Both of his victories have come on off-tracks, breaking his maiden at Evangeline Downs in Louisiana over a sloppy surface at five furlongs and then the Laffite was on a muddy track.
Record: 4-2-0-0, $127,625 earned.
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2 – Blue Angel, 15-1
Owner: Three Chimneys Farm, Winchell Thoroughbreds and Madison Mattmiller
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Jockey: David Cabrera
One of three juveniles entered by Steve Asmussen, North America’s all-time winningest trainer, and this one is his least experienced. Blue Angel has run only once, but he was a winner by a head over maiden company at Remington Park with leading rider Stewart Elliott up. Elliott has opted to ride Complex Music, one of the other two Asmussen entrants in this race. Blue Angel is a Kentucky-bred colt by Gun Runner, out of the Sky Mesa mare Sky America. He was bred by Gun Runner Syndicate, Jake Ballis & Madison Mattmiller and was a $230,000 buy for his owners from the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale in 2023. Asmussen has won the Springboard Mile and unprecedented seven times.
Record: 1-1-0-0, $20,298.
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3 – Speed King, 7-2 (morning-line favorite)
Owner: Triton Thoroughbreds, Fort Smith, Ark.
Trainer: Ron Moquett
Jockey: Rafael Bejarano
Like Blue Angel to his inside, Speed King is looking for win No. 2 in only his second career start. This gray Kentucky-bred colt by Volatile, out of the Corinthian mare Athenian Beauty, races for trainer Ron Moquett, a Breeders’ Cup Sprint winning trainer. He took the Sprint with Whitmore in 2020. Speed King’s maiden win among this bunch may have been the best and the reason he is the morning line favorite. This colt went gate-to-wire in a six furlong race at Churchill Downs in Kentucky and was 1-1/2 lengths in front at first call of the race. He won that maiden race by 2-1/4 lengths at 22-1 odds in a time of 1:10.25 over a fast track. Has a bullet work at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., on Nov. 24, covering five furlongs in 1:01.00, the fastest of 11 that worked that distance that day. He has since worked Nov. 29 at Oaklawn, going four furlongs in :48.80. May have most interesting stat of all in this race as a horse that was sold three times at auction. He was originally sold for $85,000 in the Keeneland Breeding Stock Sale to XXXX Farm. They pin-hooked him into the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and took a loss, moving him for $30,000 to buyer Andres Gaspar. Then he put him back into the Ocala Breeders’ Spring Sale of 2-year-olds-in-training this year and sold him to Triton for $100,000.
Record: 1-1-0-0, $69,000.
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4 – Dominant Spirit, 15-1
Owner: Martin Racing; Bob Gorsky; Circustown Racing; D and B Racing
and Luke Brown
Trainer: Bret Calhoun
Jockey: Jose Alvarez
This gelded Kentucky-bred son of Mohaymen, out of the Speightstown mare Town Belle, was actually favored over the top local 2-year-old on the grounds, the undefeated Jolly Samurai, in the $75,000 Clever Trevor Stakes on Oct. 25. Jolly Samurai won the Clever Trevor by just a half-length. Dominant Spirit went off at 6-5 odds that night. He had broken his maiden by 4-3/4 lengths at Remington Park on Sept. 12 at first asking. This gelding was bred by Clark Brewster, a prominent owner and breeder from Tulsa, Okla. Dominant Spirit was bought out of the Texas Thoroughbred Association Yearling Sale last year by Martin Racing Stable for $65,000.
Record: 2-1-1-0, $35,298.
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5 – Brooklyn Alley Cat, 20-1
Owner: Jay Hester and Danny Pish, Fort Worth, Texas
Trainer: Danny Pish
Jockey: Iram Diego
This one and Complex Music are the most experienced horses in the field with six races each under their belts. Brooklyn Alley Cat is one of two horses trainer Danny Pish has entered, the other being the undefeated and two-time stakes winner Jolly Samurai. Don’t sleep on this gelded Kentucky-bred son of Ministers Wild Cat, out of the Decarchy mare Dream On Kayla. The farther he has run, the better he has gotten. He was 1-for-5, sprinting less than a mile on dirt and grass, but when Pish put him into a one-mile race on the dirt last time out, he won by 1-1/4 lengths in his first-level allowance race. He was bred by Southern Comfort Farm and was bought by Hester and Pish for $15,000 from the Texas Thoroughbred Association Yearling Sale in 2023. Interesting tidbit – Hester and Pish pin-hooked him back in the TTA 2-year-olds-in-training sale this year, but he didn’t reach their reserve price of $30,000, so they kept him.
Record: 6-2-0-1, $46,917.
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6 – Essay, 20-1
Owner: Collinsworth Thoroughbred Racing, Granbury, Texas
Trainer: Bret Calhoun
Jockey: Richard Eramia
This gelded Texas-bred son of Thousand Words, out of the Northern Afleet mare Annihilation, has won two-of-four starts, but has been soundly defeated in both stakes tries this meet. He ran eighth in the $75,000 Kip Deville here before finishing sixth in the $872,500 National Thoroughbred League Juvenile Sprint Stakes at Kentucky Downs, giving him the status of the Springboard entrant who has competed for the largest purse. Trainer Bret Calhoun is the only other conditioner this year, other than Asmussen, who has won this race. Calhoun has two wins – 2013 with Louies Flower and 2010 with Grant Jack. Essay is a home-bred for his owners.
Record 4-2-0-0, $49,598.
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7 – Jolly Samurai, 4-1
Owner: Jake Brown, San Angelo, Texas
Trainer: Danny Pish
Jockey: Rene Diaz
The top candidate for 2-year-old of the meet, going into the Springboard, with an undefeated record and winner of the top two stakes open company races for juveniles here – the Kip Deville and the Clever Trevor. This gelded Texas-bred son of First Samurai, from the Paddy O’Prado mare Jolly Good, survived fires and floods in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico this summer, to prove he may be a horse of destiny. He has won the first three starts of his career at Remington Park, taking a maiden race in his first start by 2-1/2 lengths and then winning the Kip Deville by a neck on Sept. 29, and the Clever Trevor by a half-length at seven furlongs. The Springboard will be his first trip around two turns. Was purchased for $8,000 at the Texas Thoroughbred Association Yearling Sale last year. He was bred by David Cobb and has won more than 13 times his sale price.
Record: 3-3-0-0, $110,196.
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8 – Complex Music, 8-1
Owner: Mike McCarty, Austin, Texas
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Jockey: Stewart Elliott
This Kentucky-bred colt by Complexity, out of the Malibu Moon mare Auspiciously, won by an eye-opening eight lengths in an allowance non-winners of two career races event at Horseshoe Indianapolis last time out (Oct. 22) at 3-1 odds for Asmussen. He broke his maiden at Churchill Downs by three-quarters of a length in his second career on June 21 but didn’t win again until that large-margin score in Indiana. The trainer’s son, Keith, rode Complexity to that big victory but Asmussen first-call rider at Remington and leading jockey here, Stewart Elliott will be aboard for this race. Complex Music has been placed in three auctions, but only sold twice. His reserve price of $35,000 in the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Yearling Sale of 2023 was not met, so he was then put into the Fasig-Tipton Fall Yearling Sale a few months later and brought $62,000 when Bullitt Bloodstock picked him up there. He was then pin-hooked back into the Ocala Breeders’ 2-year-olds-in-training Sale this March and that’s when Mike McCarty purchased him for $110,000. He was bred by Haymarket Farm.
Record: 6-2-0-1, $75,630.
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9 – Dr Ruben M, 6-1
Owner: The Del Mar Group
Trainer: Doug O’Neill
Jockey: Edwin Maldonado
Trainer Doug O’Neill, who has won the Kentucky Derby twice, Nyquist (2016) and I’ll Have Another (2012), has been a magician with 2-year-olds on the Kentucky Derby trail. O’Neill, a 56-year-old conditioner, sends out Dr Ruben M, a maiden winner. A Kentucky-bred colt by Vino Rosso, out of the Majestic Warrior mare Xoxo, won by three-quarters of a length at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., on Oct. 14, at the one-mile distance of the Springboard. It was his fourth try to beat maidens. That was Dr Ruben M’s last race and he will have been off for about two months when he starts in the Springboard. West Coast veteran jockey Edwin Maldonado, a multiple graded stakes-winning jockey, has the mount. Dr Ruben M has run no worse than second in three of his four races. He was bred by Malibu Farm. O’Neill bought Dr Ruben M from the Keeneland September Yearling Sale last year for his ownership group. The price was $150,000. Early on, O’Neill had pre-entered Dr Ruben M toward for Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 1, but did not move forward with that.
Record: 4-1-2-0, $59,700.
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10 – Medicine Dog, 20-1
Owner: Henry S. Witt, Jr.. Waco, Texas
Trainer: Sarah Davidson
Jockey: Floyd Wethey, Jr.
Trainer Sarah Davidson claimed Medicine Dog this meet, from owner Rosette Ranch and trainer Robertino Diodoro, from a maiden claiming event for $30,000, the gelding’s first career try. He won that by nine lengths at Remington Park. Wyatt Rosette had purchased Medicine Dog for $20,000 out of the June Ocala Breeders Sale for 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age this year. Medicine Dog, a 2-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Constitution, out of the Cairo Prince mare Royal Charlotte, ran third to Jolly Samurai, in the Clever Trevor his next out, defeated by 2-1/4 lengths. He then faltered in an allowance race here in his third start, running fifth. Medicine Dog was bred by WinStar Farm.
Record: 3-1-0-1, $24,091.
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11 – Mister Omaha, 5-1
Owner: Bryan L. Hawk, Shawnee, Okla.
Trainer: Joe Offolter
Jockey: Luis Quinonez
Jolly Samurai’s top competitor for 2-year-old end-of-meet honors is this Oklahoma-bred colt by Omaha Beach, out of the Into Mischief mare Cosmic Code. Mister Omaha, trained by Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame conditioner Joe Offolter, has won three-of-four starts, including two stakes races. Those black-type affairs were restricted to Oklahoma-breds, however – the $76,000 Oklahoma Classics Juvenile on Oct. 18 at six furlongs and the $50,000 Don McNeill Stakes on Nov. 8 over a sloppy track at the one-mile distance. Although he has been limited to Okie-breds, his stakes wins have certainly passed the eye test. He won the Classics Juvenile by 5-1/2 lengths and the Don McNeill by five lengths. It doesn’t hurt that he has the services of veteran rider Luis Quinonez (second all-time in Remington Park wins). “Luis Q” has won the Springboard twice – Senor Buscador (2020) and Louies Flower (2013). Mister Omaha is owned and was bred by Remington Park’s 2024 leading owner Bryan Hawk.
Record: 4-3-1-0, $102,409.
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12 – Keeno, 12-1
Owner: Calumet Farm, Lexington, Ky.
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Jockey: Jermaine Bridgmohan
The third and final representative from the Asmussen barn drew a tough post from the outside 12-hole for the one mile. The farthest outside Keeno has been in four races is the 4-hole. This Kentucky-bred colt by Keen Ice, out of the Tapit mare Siesta Time, has never won on the dirt, breaking his maiden on the Remington Park turf course by a nose at 7-1/2 furlongs on Sept. 14. Stewart Elliott has been aboard for all three races at Remington Park, but opted for Complex Music in this race. Keeno will switch to Jermaine Bridgmohan for this. Once Keeno did switch to the dirt, he did run an excellent race, stretching out to the mile distance, finishing second in a first-level allowance race last time out on Nov. 25, losing to Brooklyn Alley Cat, another Springboard Mile entrant by 1-1/4 lengths. Keeno is a home-bred for owner Calumet Farm.
Record: 4-1-2-0, $31,064.
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Remington Park has provided more than $370 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 year-round simulcast racing 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.
