Absaroka and She's All Wolfe have been nominated to defend their Oklahoma Classics titles on Friday, Oct. 21, in the Cup and Distaff, respectively, but it will be no easy task for either to repeat.
Oklahoma Classics night features the best Oklahoma-bred horses running in eight stakes races to determine the top runners in different classifications. Started in 1993, this will be the 30th edition of the Oklahoma Classics.
Absaroka, owned by Cowboy Stables (Blake Sappington) and trained by C.R. Trout, won the $175,000 Classics Cup last year at the end of a three-race win streak and he did it easily by 4-1/4 lengths under jockey David Cabrera. He hasn't won a race since, but Trout says he has been training well.
“I like Absaroka,” said Trout of Edmond, Okla. “He's training well. We gave him a bunch of time off this summer. On opening day this meet, we had him fit but not quite tight enough to run.”
The 6-year-old gelding by Flat Out, out of the Brahms mare Wanton Song, ran fifth, beaten nine lengths in a second-level allowance race, but he hadn't run from Dec. 17 last year to Sept. 7. His record is 20 starts, five wins, four seconds and three thirds for $217,379 in earnings.
Absaroka is one of 25 nominations for the Cup, a 1-1/16th miles race on the main track for 3-year-old and older Oklahoma-breds. There are several other horses nominated that have earnings in excess of $200,000 like Absaroka. He could face Number One Dude, a multiple stakes winner, who has won on both the dirt and the turf. Owner Terry Westemeir of Broken Arrow, Okla., and trainer Kari Craddock will have to decide whether to put the Dude in with Absaroka or keep him on the grass where was a winner in the $70,000 Red Earth Stakes last time out on Sept. 23 here, his first trip over the lawn. Number One Dude is cross-nominated for the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Turf. It carries a purse of $45,000 less than the Classic. His record is 14-8-3-0 with $345,893 in the bank. If he were to go in the Classics Cup, he would be the top money earner in the field.
Trout has also entered his 3-year-old filly, Hits Pricey Legacy, in the Classics Cup, but she will more than likely go in the Distaff off her upset win in the Grade 3, $200,000 Remington Park Oaks on Oklahoma Derby Day, Sept. 25. She beat Grade 1 winner Juju's Map in that spot, who was the odds-on favorite.
“When we saw Juju's Map was coming in (for the Oaks), we first thought, 'Oh my gosh, what have we gotten ourselves into?', Trout said about the Oaks.
Hits Pricey Legacy, a 3-year-old filly by Den's Legacy, out of the Concord Point mare High Price Hit, is a home-bred owned by Trout and she won the Oaks by two full lengths, impressively. She has won two races in a row and three of her last four. She is a three-time stakes winner at Remington Park, taking the $75,000 Slide Show Stakes as a 2-year-old and has doubled up this meet with the Oaks and the $50,000 Oklahoma Stallion Stakes (filly division) on Sept. 9.
It could be quite a matchup in the Distaff between She's All Wolfe and Hits Pricey Legacy, if that happens in this 1 mile, 70-yard race. She's All Wolfe is the defending champion in the Distaff and the Queen of older mares at Remington Park, definitely a horse for the course. Her lifetime record at this Oklahoma City track is 6-of-10 lifetime on the main track, including winning the Distaff the past two years in a row for owner Dr. Robert Zoellner, of Tulsa, Okla., and trainer Donnie Von Hemel. Von Hemel is the all-time winningest Classics victor at Remington Park, having won 29 Classics races in his career here. He and Trout are 1-2 with Trout winning 15.
“Donnie and I are great friends,” said Trout. “We've both been here since the track opened in 1988. I consider him Mr. Oklahoma when it comes to Classics races. If we meet in the Distaff, She's All Wolfe is an awfully good mare. What a great matchup.”
She's All Wolfe, a 5-year-old mare by Magna Graduate, out of the Include mare She's All In, has won 9-of-27 lifetime and run second six times and third twice for a bankroll of $638,860. She was bred by Zoellner, who owns her dam, She's All In, who was another multi-stakes winner. She's All Wolfe would easily be the top money earner in the field of the Distaff if she is entered in that race. She is cross-entered in the Classics Cup. Hits Pricey Legacy and She's All Wolfe have also been nominated to the $130,000 Classics Distaff Turf.
Live racing at Remington Park continues Friday and Saturday, Oct. 14 & 15, with the first race nightly at 7:07pm-Central.
Tracked by more than 171,000 fans on Facebook and 10,600 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $304 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 features the top Oklahoma-breds in racing on Oklahoma Classics Night, a million-dollar evening of stakes events on Friday, October 21. Thoroughbred racing continues through December 17 with simulcast racing daily, and a casino that is always open! Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
The post Absaroka, She’s All Wolfe Ready For Title Defenses In Oklahoma Classics appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
