Two-Time Oklahoma Horse Of The Year Welder Wins Third Straight Oklahoma Classics Sprint

Oklahoma's two-time Horse of the Year, Welder, won the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Sprint for the third year in a row Friday night at Remington Park. The lightning fast gray gelding could well be headed toward Horse of the Year status again.

The 7-year-old son of The Visualiser, out of the Tiznow mare Dance Softly, won his 10th stakes race in a row at Remington Park, extending his record in that category. He toyed with this field of six for the first half-mile of the six-furlongs, and when jockey David Cabrera pushed the button?

“He grabbed the bit and said, 'See ya!'” said Cabrera. “He is usually very aggressive, but tonight, whew. He really wanted to win this.”

Trainer Teri Luneack agreed with her rider.

“It's been everything we could do to control him (at the farm),” she said. “I feel so bad for Courtney (Scanling, Luneack's assistant). She has to hand walk him every day and sometimes he gets a little country. He ran a great race. I'm so proud of him. This was a tremendous team effort from top to bottom at the barn.”

Owner Clayton Rash (Ra-Max Farms), of Claremore, Okla., was wearing his lucky OU Sooners red sweatshirt. He said it really helps to have a horse like this that doesn't have a down year, especially when your football team has started at two wins, two losses.

“It really does help,” Rash said with a belly laugh. He goes to the barn three or four times a week just to scratch Welder's nose. “He even knows my cologne now. I'm a man of loyalty and I will continue to wear my Sooners stuff.”

This millionaire gelding, bred at Center Hills Farm's division at Mighty Acres Ranch in Pryor, Okla., isn't getting older; he's getting better. Welder took another step toward the all-time winningest record at Remington Park. This was his 13th win in 17 tries in Oklahoma City. He is now two wins away from tying Highland Ice and Elegant Exxactsy, who won 15 races each in their Remington Park careers.

Luneack had a good feeling about Welder all week with him jumping out of his skin.

“He can be really crabby when the girls go in (the barn) until they break out the peppermints,” she said. “Courtney is in charge of the crazy with him so I don't have to. I thought that close win on the grass might have taken something out of him, but it didn't.”

Welder won the Remington Park Turf Sprint in his last start on Sept. 25, grinding out a neck-long victory in what has been determined to be his one and only turf start.

In the Classics Sprint, Welder sat just off the pace set by 3-year-old gelding Mesa Moon and then took over in the stretch, cruising to a four-length win as the heavy betting favorite at 2-5 odds. He covered the six furlongs in 1:09.78 seconds and paid $2.80 to win, $2.10 to place and $2.10 to show. Mesa Moon (2-1 odds) held on for second, 2-1/4 lengths in front of No Lak of Speed. The interior fractions were :22.13 seconds for the first quarter-mile, :44.96 for the half-mile, and :57.18 for five-eighths of a mile.

Welder is expected to make his next trip to Remington Park for the Silver Goblin Stakes on Friday, Nov. 13. After that, if Welder doesn't have another race in Oklahoma City, Oaklawn Park is a strong possibility in Hot Springs, Ark., for his 8-year-old year debut.

“Like I am with my Sooners and Welder, I'm very loyal to Oaklawn,” said Rash. “I've been going there for the races since I was 18 years old.” That's over about a five-decade period now. There are two more loyalties Rash has no problem divulging.

“David and Teri are both phenomenal with Welder,” Rash said. “I can't tell you how much they mean to me.”

Welder earned $78,000 for the win and now has raced 36 times, won 24 and finished second five times and third four times. His lifetime bankroll is $1,137,018.

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Envoutante Prompt Favorite In Remington Park Oaks

Trainer Kenny McPeek shipped Envoutante for the Grade 3 Remington Park Oaks at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., straight from two Grade 1 stakes attempts, the Ashland at Keeneland and the Alabama at Saratoga. She showed her class by easily winning the event on Sunday.

The win was McPeek's second in this race and the victory ended a two-year streak by trainer Steve Asmussen, who won the Oaks with Lady Apple and She's a Julie, the past two years, respectively. McPeek also won this race with Montana Native in 2013. Remington Park's leading rider and top rider the past two years, David Cabrera, was aboard Envoutante for the win.

“I watched some tape of her when she was at Gulfstream Park and she looked uncomfortable there, so my main thing was just to get her comfortable,” Cabrera said. “So I put her on the outside and she felt comfortable. When we went to the lead in the stretch she pricked her ears and I said, 'Uh-oh,' so I got her attention with the left stick and that's when she just drew away.”

Envoutante and Cabrera settled into a mid-pack fifth position in the early going of the 1 1/16-mile race, then moved to the lead at the top of the stretch before cruising home. She chased early fractions of :23.84 seconds for the first quarter-mile, :47.78 for the half-mile, 1:11.89 for three-quarters of a mile and 1:36.91 after a mile. By that time Envoutante was in charge.

Envoutante, a 3-year-old Kentucky-bred filly by Uncle Mo, out of the Bluegrass Cat mare Enchante, ran the exact same winning time to the hundredths of a second that She's a Julie did two years ago in the oaks – 1:43.36.

Envoutante earned $60,000 for owner Walking L Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm and now has three wins from eight starts for $215,748 in her bankroll. Paige Anne (7-1) ran second followed by third-place runner Seattle Slang (6-1) another three-quarters of a length back. The remaining order of finish in the field of eight was Trixie Racer, Jeweled Princess, Curls and Bows, Darlene Strong and Hotasapistol.

Envoutante had been competitive with the tougher company, running fourth at Saratoga in the Alabama Stakes on Aug. 15 to one of the top fillies in the country, Swiss Skydiver, who is expected to go in the Preakness in October. Prior to that in the Ashland at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., she ran third to Speech, another high-brow filly. So it was no surprise to the bettors that the class drop to a Grade 3 stakes would improve the chances of Envoutante greatly. She was sent off at the heave betting choice at 1-5 odds and paid $2.60, $2.10 and $2.10 to win, place and show.

Remington Park racing continues into a new month with a Thursday-Saturday schedule on Oct 1-3. The first race nightly is at 7:07pm-Central.

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