Steve Asmussen, horse racing's all-time winningest trainer, sent out Three Chimneys Farm's Otto the Conqueror to win Friday night's $300,000 Remington Springboard Mile Stakes at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla. It was Asmussen's seventh victory in the Springboard Mile, a Kentucky Derby qualifying points race awarding 10-5-3-2-1 points to the top five finishers.
Previously unbeaten Glengarry, trying to become the second consecutive Iowa-bred to win the Springboard Mile, finished second, with Magic Grant third, Third Street fourth, My Buddy Mel fifth, and Raging Torrent sixth. There were three scratches.
Ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, Otto the Conqueror – a Street Sense colt out of G3 Schuylerville Stakes winner Dream It Is, by Shackleford – hooked up on the front end with Glengarry in the early going, with the two racing as a team most of the way through fractions of :23.48, :46.35, 1:11.40, and 1:25.26. Otto the Conqueror edged away from a stubborn Glengarry to his inside in the final sixteenth to win by three-quarters of a length in a final time of 1:39.91 on a muddy track. It was 1 1/4 lengths back to Magic Grant.
Otto the Conqueror, who Asmussen said was named for the eldest son of Three Chimneys Farm owner Goncalo Borges Torrealba, paid $4.80 for the win, his third in four career starts. The Springboard Mile was Otto the Conqueror's stakes debut and first try around two turns.
In his previous start, Otto the Conqueror defeated Honor Marie and Just Steel in an allowance race at Churchill Downs. Honor Marie came out of that race to win the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes while Just Steel would win the Ed Brown Stakes next out – both races at Churchill Downs. Asmussen said Otto the Conqueror would return to Oaklawn, where he had been stabled, and point for future Derby trail races.
Otto the Conqueror was bred by Hoolie Racing Stable and purchased by Three Chimneys for $450,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale from the Claiborne Farm consignment.
Two entries from the Brad Cox stable – Calumet Farm's Fidget and Siena Farm and WinStar Farm's Gettsyburg Address – were entered and scratched from the Springboard Mile. Cox shipped a total of four horses to Oklahoma City to race on Friday night, but published reports said they left the track on Friday morning. The trainer did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Randy Howg's Rhino Runner also was scratched. He was entered by trainer Sean Williams, substituting for Robertino Diodoro, who is serving a suspension for a TCO2 overage at Oaklawn Park earlier this year.
The Remington Park meet concludes on Saturday with a 12-race card that begins at 2:30 p.m. CT. The day was added as a makeup for the nine races lost on Dec. 6 when the track's lighting system did not function properly.
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