Trainer Kari Craddock won the $50,000 Oklahoma Stallion Stakes' colts and geldings division for the third consecutive year on Friday night at Remington Park, scoring with her third different owner.
When Kaleo smoked the field by 13 3/4 lengths at the seven-furlongs distance under a confident Leandro Goncalves in the saddle, Craddock had clamped down on the ownership of this race.
In the past two years, she had won with Ninethirtyturbo for Kirk Thoroughbreds of Luther, Okla., in 2020 and with Number One Dude for Terry Westemeir of Broken Arrow, Okla., in 2021. She had a third different owner this year: herself. Craddock owns, trains, and bred Kaleo in Oklahoma.
Goncalves won for the second straight year while jockey Lane Luzzi was aboard Ninethirtyturbo two years ago.
“He made me look good,” Goncalves said of Kaleo after the race. “I liked his chances, but I really didn't expect to win by this much.”
Kaleo, a 3-year-old gelded son of Foreign Policy out of the Election Day mare Beuna Fortuna, was unraced as a 2-year-old and didn't win a race until his third start at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla., this spring on May 11. He followed that up with a near win in the Will Rogers Stakes at the same track. He ran second in that event, losing by only three-quarters of a length. After an uneventful try at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, on the turf for the first time (eighth-place finish), he was given a rest from June 26 until Friday night.
Kaleo was certainly unrushed as four horses went to the front ahead of him on the backstretch. He dropped back five lengths behind, running fifth at the half-mile pole before blowing by the front runners like a category five hurricane.
“I just let him travel the first half of the race,” said Goncalves. “When he finally kicked in, I just hoped he wouldn't stop and he sure didn't.”
Little Drama, who went off the same odds as the winner at 5-2, held on for second in a different county, but he finished second easily ahead of Lava Bomb (4-1), who was 16-1/2 lengths back of the winner.
Rowdy Rascal, the 3-2 wagering favorite, could do no better than fourth, a head behind the third-place finisher.
Kaleo covered the seven furlongs in 1:24.04 over the fast main track and cut into early fractions of :22.09 for the first quarter-mile, :45.24 for the half-mile, and 1:10.99 for three-quarters of a mile.
The winner, who returned $7.20, took home $30,000 and the trophy, improving his career record to six starts, two wins, two seconds and earnings of $61,112.
Hits Pricey Legacy Rolls To Victory In Fillies Division
C.R. Trout of Edmond, Okla., does it all as owner-breeder-trainer with most of his racehorses but he gave most of the credit Friday night to his top man in the barn for a third win in the $50,000 Oklahoma Stallion Stakes Fillies Division as the filly Hits Pricey Legacy rolled to victory.
“I can't take much credit for this win,” Trout said after watching Hits Pricey Legacy cruise to a 4-1/2 length victory. “Daniel Ortiz has been really patient with her and got her to where she is right now.”
Where she is right now is one of the top fillies in the Trout barn and his third winner in this race. Trout had hit a bit of a rut in the past four meets after winning this race in back-to-back years with Euro K Shotgun in 2016 and Sunday Night Miss in 2017, but he appears back on track with Hits Pricey Legacy. She is a 3-year-old homebred daughter of Den's Legacy out of the Concord Point mare High Price Hit, owned by Trout.
Jose Alvarez was the third jockey to win this race for Trout as Luis Quinonez and Richard Eramia have also done their part. Quinonez rode Euro K Shotgun in 2016 and Eramia booted home Sunday Night Miss in 2017. Trout has been owner-breeder-trainer for all three of his winners.
“I really think Hits Pricey Legacy is going to want more distance, maybe a mile and a sixteenth,” he said. “We're going to shoot for the Oklahoma Classics (Friday, Oct. 21) with her I believe.”
It was Alvarez's first win in this series and he was highly impressed with his winner.
“She ran great today,” he said. “I put her right behind the speed and she gave me everything she had when I asked her to run. How she ran today makes me believe she will be even better next time.”
The winning time for seven furlongs was 1:23.54 on the fast track, a faster clocking than the colts and geldings ran in their division. Hits Pricey Legacy was sent off the 1-2 favorite and returned $3 to win. She pocketed $30,000 from the purse and improved to six starts, three wins, two seconds and one third for $139,355 in earnings.
Hits Pricey Legacy ran just behind interior fractions of :22.98 for the first quarter-mile, :46.40 for the half-mile, and 1:11.18 for three-quarters of a mile. Plenty of Vision (8-1) finished second and was 1 1/4 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Kachina.
It was the second stakes win for Hits Pricey Legacy as she also won the Slide Show Stakes at Remington Park on Nov. 12 last year in her 2-year-old campaign. The most impressive thing about her win Friday night is that it came off a nine-month layoff. She hadn't raced since Dec. 17 when she ran third in the $100,000 Trapeze Stakes.
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