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Casual Gets First Stakes Win In She’s All In At Remington

The nation's No. 2 trainer in earnings this year, Steve Asmussen, owns the She's All In Stakes, winning it for the third time in four years at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., this time with Casual.

When Asmussen's fillies win, they leave no doubt that they were the best horse in the race. Casual was virtually in another county when she hit the finish line 5 1/4 lengths in front of the rest of the field in the $100,600 She's All In on Friday night. He also won this race with Magical in 2019 and Clever Serve in 2018. That's three trips to the winner's circle in only eight editions of this event.

Jose Ortiz, the No. 4 rider in the country by earnings, booted home this 4-year-old daughter of Curlin, out of the Mutakddim mare Lady Tak. Asmussen campaigned Curlin, who was a two-time Horse of the Year.

Casual had run fourth in the She's All In last year and had never won a stakes race until she took down the 2021 She's All In. She was close to stakes wins many times this year, running second in the $75,000 Zia Distaff in New Mexico on Nov. 23, the $50,000 Flashy Lady Stakes at Remington on Sept. 26, the $100,000 Skipat Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., on May 21, and in the $200,000 Spring Fever Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. on Feb. 27.

Casual was at 2-1 odds in the race, but easily defeated the betting favorite Marion Francis who was at 9-5. Marion Francis was another 3 1/2 lengths ahead of third-place finisher My Bets (14-1) in a strung-out field. The remaining order of finish in the She's All In was She's All Wolfe (4th), Content (5th), Paige Anne (6th), Island Hideaway (7th), and Lady Gwen (8th).

Casual's running time against 3-year-olds and older fillies and mares for the 1 mile 70 yards was 1:43.96 over the fast track. The interior fractions were :24.52 for the first quarter-mile, :49.40 for the half-mile, 1:15.19 for three-quarters of a mile, and 1:39.98 for the mile. She was never worse than second in the running of this race and passed front-running Island Hideaway after three-quarters of the race. Island Hideaway faded to seventh.

Casual paid $6.80 to win, $4.00 to place, and $3.00 to show.

Casual earned $60,000 from this purse and improved her lifetime record to 15 starts, four wins, four seconds, and three thirds for $346,225 in her bankroll. It was the first time Jose Ortiz rode her. His brother, Irad, got her up for second in the Zia Distaff.

Casual is owned by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings (J.G. Sikura), Stretch Run Ventures (Ed McGee), and Windsor Boys Racing (Faheem Hasnain), and was bred in Kentucky by the first two owners.

The She's All In is named after the Oklahoma-bred mare and member of the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame, who compiled over $1 million in her racing career, scoring 11 times at Remington Park.

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Marion Francis Looks For First Stakes Win In She’s All In Friday At Remington Park

Marion Francis has yet to enjoy the sweet taste of stakes success, but she hails from the barn of the top trainer in the country. The 3-year-old filly ships into Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., and has been established as the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the $100,000 She's All In Stakes on the final night of the season, Friday, Dec. 17.

Brad Cox leads all trainers nationally with earnings of $30,932,681 this year. He has yet to win the She's All In Stakes.

Marion Francis has made $222,578 in 2021 and has lifetime earnings of $232,118 despite never winning in black-type company. Her record is 10 starts, three wins, three seconds, and three thirds.

A daughter of Constitution, out of the Two Punch mare Sophie's Destiny, has been stakes-placed twice. She ran third two races back in the $200,000 Plum Pretty Stakes at Parx Racing in Philadelphia on Sept. 25. Cox's filly also got third in the $150,000 Cathryn Sophia Stakes at Parx on Aug. 24. She broke her maiden at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., this spring on March 28 as the 6-5 favorite. Her margin of victory was 1-1/4 lengths.

Marion Francis picked up her next win at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. against allowance/optional $75,000 claiming fillies. She won that one by three-quarters of a length on May 28 over a wet fast track. She will be entering the She's All In off her third win, beating optional $100,000 claiming fillies under allowance conditions, at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., by a mere neck on Oct. 21. She's been off almost two months since then but has a series of works to prep for this comeback, three of them at Keeneland and her last on Dec. 5 at Oaklawn where she breezed in :48.40 for a half-mile.

Jockey Florent Geroux has been in the saddle for all three Marion Francis wins and all 10 of her starts. Cox will once again give him a leg up in the She's All In. Marion Francis is owned by Madaket Stables, Kent Spellman, and Wonder Stables. She was bred in Pennsylvania by Blackstone Farm. This filly was last purchased for $150,000 in the Ocala (Fla.) Breeders' Spring Sale for 2-year-olds in Training in 2020.

Marion Francis was made the slight favorite over Casual (2-1) from the barn of the nation's second-leading trainer and the all-time winningest conditioner in history, Steve Asmussen. Casual also is a multiple stakes-placed filly and ran fourth in the 2020 She's All In. Asmussen, who is second behind Cox in a heated battle for top-earning trainer this year at $30,523,870, has won the She's All in twice and will be going for his third victory in the past four years. He won with Magical in 2019 and Clever Serve in 2018. Ricardo Santana, Jr., booted home the 2019 winner while David Cabrera, the track's leading rider the past four years, 2018-2021, was aboard Clever Serve. This year, Asmussen will use the riding services of Jose Ortiz, who is fourth in the country among jockeys in money earned ($23,721,025). He trails only Joel Rosario in first, followed by Jose's brother Irad, and Luis Saez.

Casual is owned by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings (J.G. Sikura), Stretch Run Ventures (Ed McGee), and Windsor Boys Racing (Faheem Hasnain). The 4-year-old daughter of two-time Horse of the Year, Curlin, is out of the Mutakddim mare Lady Tak. She was bred in Kentucky by the first two owners. She may not yet be a stakes winner, but she has finished second or third in six of her last seven tries against stakes company.

Casual ran second in Oaklawn's $200,000 Spring Fever Stakes on Feb. 27 and third in the Carousel Stakes on April 10, followed by a runner-up finish in the $100,000 Skipat Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., on May 15. She continued her run with a third in the $120,000 Shine Again Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Asmussen decided to jump her up into the Grade 1 Ballerina Handicap there, where she ran seventh, beaten 11 lengths by champion Gamine on Aug. 28. Her next stop came here at Remington Park where she finished second to Cinnabunny in the $50,000 Flashy Lady Stakes on Sept. 26.

Casual was shipped out to Zia Park in Hobbs, New Mexico for her final start before the She's All In. She was a distant second in the $75,000 Zia Distaff there, beaten 5 3/4 lengths on Nov. 23.

The filly carrying the local flag in the She's All In will appropriately be She's All Wolfe, a 4-year-old daughter of the mare whose name is on this stakes race. She's All Wolfe, by Magna Graduate, was bred in Oklahoma by owner Dr. Robert Zoellner. All this filly has done for Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Famer trainer Donnie Von Hemel is win five of her eight starts at Remington on the main track. She is the 6-1 fourth favorite in the morning line.

She's All Wolfe is the lone Oklahoma-bred in the She's All In and leads in career victories and earnings. The 4-year-old's record is 20 starts, seven wins, five seconds, and a pair of thirds for a bankroll of $390,761. Her wins at Remington Park include the $30,000 Oklahoma Stallion Stakes for fillies on Sept. 11, 2020, and the $145,000 Oklahoma Classics Distaff last year and this year. Richard Eramia gets the return call on She's All Wolfe. Von Hemel has won the She's All In once since its inception in 2014. He sent out Ready to Confess for Pin Oak Stable in 2017.

She's All In reached millionaire status during her racing career, as well as being dominant in the Oklahoma Classics, winning the Distaff in four consecutive years from 2010-2013.

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Here's a look at the She's All In Stakes field from the rail out with post position, horse, jockey, trainer, and odds:

My Bets, Lane Luzzi, Philip Sims, 12-1
Lady Gwen, Carlos Montalvo, Brent Davidson, 20-1
Island Hideaway, Julien Leparoux, Karl Broberg, 12-1
She's All Wolfe, Richard Eramia, Donnie Von Hemel, 6-1
Paige Anne, Sophie Doyle, John Ennis, 5-1
Casual, Jose Ortiz, Steve Asmussen, 2-1
Marion Francis, Florent Geroux, Brad Cox, 9-5
Content, Danny Sorenson, Tina Hurley, 15-1

The She's All In goes as the 10th race on a 13-race card with an approximate post time of 9:25 p.m.

There are four other stakes races on Dec. 17:

Race 8, $70,000 Jim Thorpe Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 mile (Oklahoma-breds)

Race 9, $70,000 Useeit Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 1 mile (Oklahoma-breds)

Race 11, $100,000 Trapeze Stakes, fillies, 2-year-olds, 1 mile

Race 12, $400,000 Springboard Mile, 2-year-olds, 1 mile

The total closing day card will begin at 5 pm. on Friday, Dec. 17. Prior to the final night, racing will take place Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 15-16 starting at 7:07 pm. All times are Central.

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‘It’s Time’: Jockey Robby Albarado Set To Retire

Two-time Preakness-winning jockey Robby Albarado told the Daily Racing Form this week that he plans to retire after riding at Turfway Park on Saturday. With 5,222 wins from a career that began in Louisiana in 1990, Albarado ranks 30th among North American jockeys.

“It's time,” Albarado told DRF. “I've been thinking about this for quite a while now.”

Albarado was most recently in the spotlight for his partnership with Swiss Skydiver, the filly who beat the boys in the 2020 edition of the Preakness Stakes. He was also the jockey of 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft, as well as of Hall of Famer and two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, his partnership with the latter including wins in the 2007 Preakness, 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic, and 2008 Dubai World Cup.

Among Albarado's other achievements are a victory in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Tapitsfly and in the 2011 Breeders' Cup Mile with Court Vision.

Future plans could see Albarado become a jockey's agent in 2022.

Veteran Jockey Robby Albarado to Retire

Jockey Robby Albarado, a winner of more than 5,000 races and the regular rider of Hall of Famer Curlin, has decided to retire. The 48-year-old rider will end his career Saturday at Turfway Park, where he has a mount in the seventh race.

The news of his retirement was first reported by Daily Racing Form's Marty McGee.

“It's time,” Albarado told DRF. “I've been thinking about this for quite a while now.”

Albarado told McGee that he plans on becoming a jockey agent next year.

Albarado started out at the bush tracks in his native Louisiana and earned his first official win in 1990 at Evangeline Downs. He continued to ride in Louisiana, Arkansas and Illinois before becoming a regular on the Kentucky circuit in 1996. By the mid-nineties, he had established himself as one of the leading riders in the Midwest. In 1998, he won 269 races with earnings of $9,366,585. That same year, he won his first two Grade I races, winning the Three Chimneys Spinster and the Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.

Albarado had his share of injuries and twice fractured his skull, but didn't allow that to slow him down. In 2003, he picked up the mount on Mineshaft and won four graded stakes on him on his way to the Horse of the Year title.
He won his first Triple Crown race in the 2007 GI Preakness aboard Curlin. He rode Curlin in all but one of his 16 career starts, which included wins in the G1 Dubai World Cup and the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Curlin was named Horse of the Year in 2007 and 2008.

In 2011, he was slated to ride Animal Kingdom in the Derby but suffered a minor injury the week of the race, which cost him the mount. With John Velazquez aboard, Animal Kingdom won the first leg of the Triple Crown.

Albarado was convicted in 2012 of assaulting a former girlfriend, but, on appeal, the charges were overturned. In 2011, he faced similar charges when charged with three counts related to a domestic dispute with his wife. Those charges were later dropped.

Starting in 2019, his business began to slow down. He won just 24 races that year and won 24 again in 2020. But his 2020 season was not without its highlights. He picked up the mount on 3-year-old filly star Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) and rode her to wins in the 2020 Preakness and, this year, in the GI Beholder Mile. In 2021, he has had just two winners from 93 mounts.

According to Equibase, Albarado has 5,222 career wins from 34,113 mounts and has earnings of $221,560,458.

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