The $300,000 Springboard Mile, Remington Park's top stakes event for 2-year-olds, drew a field of nine. A trio of runners are barely separated for morning-line favoritism in the headliner on Friday, Dec. 15.
The Springboard Mile is a qualifying points race for the 2024 Kentucky Derby and headlines a 10-race program with five other stakes races. The Dec. 15 card will start at 5pm-Central.
Otto The Conqueror is the slight morning-line favorite at 5-2 odds from the barn of horse racing's all-time leading trainer, Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. The 2-year-old colt by Street Sense from the Shackleford mare Dream It Is has won two consecutive races at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Both wins came at seven furlongs with the last over a sloppy surface on Oct. 29. In that allowance event, Otto The Conqueror defeated Honor Marie by four lengths. Honor Marie went on to win the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill on Nov. 25.
Owned by Three Chimneys Farm of Midway, Ky., Otto The Conqueror will be ridden by Tyler Gaffalione who was up in the Oct. 29 allowance triumph.
Raging Torrent will ship to Remington Park from Southern California and is expected to arrive on Monday, Dec. 11. Trainer Doug O'Neill has already won the Kentucky Derby twice – with Nyquist in 2016 and with I'll Have Another in 2012. Raging Torrent is the second-choice in the morning-line odds at 3-1 and has been entered to go with a blinkers off equipment change.
Owned by Great Friends Stables and Mark Davis, Raging Torrent broke his maiden at first asking in July at Del Mar near San Diego. O'Neill immediately entered him in his first graded stakes race, the Grade 3, $200,000 Best Pal Stakes, in which he finished third, beaten 8-3/4 lengths. That didn't deter O'Neill's and his owners' confidence in the colt. Raging Torrent came back to race in two Grade 1s – the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity and the American Pharoah. He finished fourth in both of those, adding blinkers in the latter race. Jockey Antonio Fresu is the only rider to handle Raging Torrent to this point and will come in to ride him in the Springboard as well.
Glengarry will travel to Oklahoma City from Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. to make his Springboard attempt. He is the third-choice in the morning-line at 7-2 odds. Undefeated through three starts, Glengarry is owned by Iowa residents Aaron Kennedy and Toby Joseph and trainer Doug Anderson. He broke his maiden by 5-3/4 lengths at first asking on Aug. 28 at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa. Glengarry followed up the first race with an even more impressive victory by 12-3/4 lengths on Sept. 30 in the $100,000 Iowa Cradle Stakes.
Jockey Ken Tohill was in the saddle for the first two wins. His third trip to the winner's circle was only by a half-length but may have been his most impressive thus far. It came at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., against open company in the $200,000 Bowman Mill Stakes with jockey Luis Saez taking over for Tohill. In three starts, Glengarry has earned $177,501 from his three wins, both tops in the Springboard field. Saez will keep the mount on Glengarry.
Magic Grant is the top local stakes winner in the Springboard by virtue of his score in the $75,000 Clever Trevor Stakes at Remington Park on Oct. 27. Trained by Eddie Milligan, Jr., the colt broke his maiden in winning the Clever Trevor. Richard Eramia keeps the mount on Magic Grant who is 8-1 in the morning-line.
The Springboard Mile field, by post position and program order, with trainer, jockey and morning-line odds:
- Fidget: Brad Cox, Marcelino Pedroza, Jr., 8-1
- My Buddy Mel: Danny Pish, Jermaine Bridgmohan, 20-1
- Gettysburg Address: Brad Cox, Flavien Prat, 6-1
- Magic Grant: Eddie Milligan, Jr., Richard Eramia, 8-1
- Glengarry: Doug Anderson, Luis Saez, 7-2
- Raging Torrent: Doug O'Neill, Antonio Fresu, 3-1
- Rhino Runner: Sean Williams, Stewart Elliott, 20-1
- Otto The Conqueror: Steve Asmussen, Tyler Gaffalione, 5-2
- Third Street: Shawn Davis, Jose Alvarez, 20-1
The Springboard Mile is the 10th and final race on the Dec. 15 card that has stakes races for the final six events. Stakes action prior to the Springboard Mile includes:
Race 5 – $50,000 Useeit Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 1 mile, OK-breds.
Race 6 – $50,000 Jim Thorpe Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 mile, OK-breds.
Race 7 – $75,000 Trapeze Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 1 mile.
Race 8 – $75,000 She's All In Stakes, fillies and mare, 3 and older, 1 mile-70 yards
Race 9 – 475,000 Jeffrey Hawk Memorial, 3 and older, 1 mile-70 yards.
Remington Park racing continues this week, Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 7-9, with the first race at 7:07pm-Central.
Remington Park has provided more than $340 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 is home to the Springboard Mile, a Kentucky Derby points-qualifying race, on Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. Remington Park presents simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. Parking and admission are always free. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
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