c.r. trout | Horse Racing Free Tips

Trainer C.R. Trout won the $175,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup, powered by TVG, with Absaroka on Friday night, his seventh win of this race in the past nine years.

It helps when you have an Oklahoma-bred millionaire like Shotgun Kowboy win it four times, but Trout has dominated in this spot. Shotgun Kowboy won it in 2015 and 2017-2019. His other winner was Imahit in back-to-back years, 2013 and 2014.

It was Absaroka's third win in a row at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., as he broke like a rocket with his early speed on the rail under jockey David Cabrera, who won this race for the fourth time. The gelding's first two wins of the meet were not against stakes company, however. Still, Absaroka went off the even-money favorite and cruised to a 4-1/4 lengths victory in wire-to-wire fashion. Cabrera also won this race in the saddle of Phantom Trip in 2016 and Shotgun Kowboy's last two wins in the Cup.

Running time for the 1-1/16th miles was 1:43.19 over the fast track. Absaroka, a 5-year-old gelding by Flat Out, from the Brahms mare Wanton Song, made every pole a winning one. He set fractions of :24.10 for the quarter-mile, :48.45 for the half-mile, 1:12.62 for six furlongs, and 1:36.97 for the mile. He was bred by owner Cowboy Stables (Blake Sappington) of Clinton, Okla.

“This horse is so easy to train,” said Trout, who picked up his 14th career Oklahoma Classics win with Absaroka. “He's had a couple of hiccups along the way and I have to give it up to the owner because they gave us the money to straighten him out and we have worked the problems out.”

Cabrera was so grateful for more than Trout putting him on Absaroka.

“I've known C.R. Trout probably the longest of anyone here,” Cabrera said. “He's the first person I knew here when I came (in 2015). I'm so happy he gave me the opportunity on this horse. He went to the lead and I had so much horse left in the end.”

Absaroka paid $4, $2.20, and $2.10 across the board. Number One Dude (6-5) reported in second and was seven lengths ahead of third-place finisher Dont Tell Noobody (5-1), who was the defending champion in this race. The remaining order of finish was United Patriot (4th), Tonaltalitarian (5th), and Great Faces (6th).

Absaroka earned $105,000 with his trip to the winner's circle and improved his record to 17 starts, five wins, four seconds, and one third, almost doubling his lifetime earnings in this race. He now has $214,317 overall.

The Oklahoma Classics is a $1,000,000 series of stakes races devoted to Oklahoma-bred Thoroughbreds.

Remington Park racing continues Saturday, Oct. 16 with the first race at 7:07 pm Central.

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Oklahoma-bred millionaire Shotgun Kowboy won the Oklahoma Classics Cup four times for breeder-owner-trainer C.R. Trout, including the last three years in a row.

The 8-year-old gelded son of Kodiak Kowboy, out of the Siphon (BRZ) mare Shotgun Jane, still comes to the track just about every morning at Remington Park and is the best looking horse in Trout's barn. However, Shotgun Kowboy will not be running in Friday's $175,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup, a race he won in 2015 and then 2017-19. Shotgun Kowboy is now retired, after incurring an injury during training earlier this year at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

“We let him (Shotgun Kowboy), with my assistant Dan Ortiz up on him, accompany the horses I'm working in the mornings and he looks fantastic,” said Trout, who earned $1,548,684 by racing this horse from 2014-19. “I don't think I've ever seen him look better. It is tempting to bring him back to training and racing, but that injury was pretty bad.”

Trout of Edmond, Okla., is one win away from being the all-time winningest owner and trainer of the Classics Cup. He has taken the trophy home six times as an owner, tying him with John and Barbara Smicklas, and six times as a trainer, placing him in a tie with Donnie Von Hemel.

It would mean a great deal to Trout to be the top owner and trainer in Cup history by winning this race on Friday: “It certainly would be exciting. Anyone would like to reach that goal.”

This year, Trout's Cup hopes lie with Fast Breakin Cash, one of eight horses entered for the 2020 edition. A 4-year-old gelded son of Yes It's True, out of the Forestry mare Fast N Fine Lookin, Fast Breakin Cash will pick up the baton for the Trout barn. Trout also won the Classics Cup with Imahit in 2013-14.

“Imahit's first win in the Cup was probably the most exciting for me,” Trout said. “We were stretching him out from sprints to a route and he responded in kind. It's great when you do that and it works. As far as this year's race goes, I like my chances. We're not scared of anybody in there.”

Trout is trying to do a similar thing that he did with Imahit. Fast Breakin Cash has run 13 times and 12 of those races were sprints. He could have gone into the Oklahoma Classics Sprint except for one thing.

“Oh, we've tried him against Welder already,” Trout said.

That is good enough reason to stretch him out around two turns to the 1-1/16th miles for the Cup. He was a respectable third to Welder in last year's Oklahoma Classics Sprint, beaten only 4-1/4 lengths by the two-time Oklahoma Horse of the Year. The one race where he did negotiate a route of ground was the $70,000 Jim Thorpe Stakes here last year at one mile, and he ran second, beaten only 1-3/4 lengths by Cowboy Mischief.

“Oh, he's bred to go as far as you want him to go,” said Trout.

To win another Classics Cup and establish a record for most wins in the race would be satisfying but also bittersweet for Trout, who is competing on this night for the first time without his wife Arletta, who passed away Nov. 24, 2019.

“When you live with someone more than 50 years, it's just not going to be the same,” he said. “She was not only my wife, but she was also my best friend. I will have my whole family here, but it still won't be like having your best buddy that's always been here.”

Here's a look at the field with post position, jockey, trainer and odds:

1) Dont Tell Noobody: Sophie Doyle, Federico Villafranco, 15-1

2) Georgia Deputy: Ezequiel Lara, Joe Petalino, 20-1

3) United Patriot: Lori Biehler, Michael Biehler, 10-1

4) Rowdy Yates: Stewart Elliott, Steve Asmussen, 2-1 (morning-line favorite)

5) Fast Breakin Cash: Luis Quinonez, C.R. Trout, 5-1

6) Dak Da Man: Lane Luzzi, Kari Craddock, 6-1

7) Kwik: David Cabrera, Karl Broberg, 10-1

8) Deal Driven: Ramon Vazquez, Robert Mosco, 5-2

Remington Park racing continues Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 15-17, this week with Friday being Oklahoma Classics Night featuring the top Oklahoma-breds in divisional stakes competition worth $1 million. The first race nightly is at 7:07pm-Central.

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