Popular Kid Gets First Remington Park Stakes Victory In Jeffrey Hawk Memorial

Popular Kid was racing at Santa Anita as a 7-year-old at the beginning of the year when his new owner George A. Sharp of Phoenix, Ariz., claimed him for $20,000.

The gelded son of Popular, out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Lemon Supreme, has since won 4 of 10 starts, including the $102,000 Jeffrey Hawk Memorial Stakes on Friday night at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla. It's rare that a 7-year-old with no promise for breeding and no more conditions to run through in his races is bought out of a claiming race for $20,000.

“Everyone thought I was nuts,” Sharp said. “I sent him straight out to the cowboy (trainer Shawn Davis). Now he's all pro. He just wins races and is going to win more. Jose (Alvarez, jockey) couldn't have ridden him any better.”

Popular Kid earned $60,000 from the purse and improved his record to 62 starts, 15 wins, nine seconds, and five thirds for $598,774. It kept the winner undefeated in three tries over the main track at Remington Park this season, with the other two victories coming in allowance company. His only loss here was on the grass in the $100,000 Remington Green Stakes.

It took Popular Kid five races before he won for Sharp after the Jan. 2 claim on the West Coast. He finally made it to the winner's circle on a muddy track at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, on June 7 against optional claiming $35,000 horses. Two races later, he found that Remington Park was turning into the land of milk and honey for him. Alvarez has been aboard for his wins on Sept. 11, Oct. 27, and Friday night, the horse's first stakes win in Oklahoma City.

Popular Kid was sent off at 3-1 odds, the second favorite in the race, and paid $8.80, $4.60, and $3.60 across the board to win, place, and show. The oddest race of all came from runner-up Catdaddy, the longest shot in the six-horse field at 26-1. He broke like a rocket from the gate, ding-donging on the front end with Absaroka, who was stepping into open company after winning the $175,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup against Oklahoma-breds in October. Catdaddy soon backed out of the 1 mile and 70 yards race after dueling early, dropping back to fourth. As they came into the stretch, however, Catdaddy found new life and began passing horses that had already passed him. When all was said and done, he had regained second place, losing by only a length to Popular Kid.

According to Brisnet statistics, it was Popular Kid's eighth win in 16 starts at or near the distance. He covered the distance in 1:43.35 over a fast track. Alvarez was never farther back than third in the early going and then gradually moved past the front-runners, who set early fractions of :24.75 for the quarter-mile, :48.58 for the half-mile, and 1:13.19 for six furlongs. Popular Kid was in front after a mile in 1:39.04.

Trainer Davis couldn't have been happier with his horse, bred in California by Rod and Lorraine Rodriguez. “We hoped he would run that way,” said Davis. “He's 7 years old and just getting better.”

Absaroka (9-2) held on for third, three-quarters of a length behind Catdaddy, and 1-3/4 lengths ahead of fourth-place finisher Trident Hit, the beaten wagering favorite at 3-5 odds. The remaining order of finish was Favorable Outcome (5-1) and Drifting West (12-1).

The Jeffrey Hawk Memorial is named in honor of prominent Remington Park owner and breeder Bryan Hawk's brother who passed away in 2017.

The score with Popular Kid was one of three on the night for Alvarez. He also triumphed with Young Skywalker ($4.80 to win) in the sixth race and Sierra Summer ($32) in the ninth race. Alvarez now has 29 wins on the season, tying him for fifth in the Remington Park standings with Leandro Goncalves. David Cabrera is well on his way to a fourth-consecutive leading rider title with 75 wins.

Remington Park racing continues Saturday, Nov. 20 with the first race at 7:07 pm Central.

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Hits Pricey Legacy Gives Trout Another Stakes Win In Slide Show

When Hits Pricey Legacy hit the wire 5-1/4 lengths in front in the $75,000 Slide Show Stakes on Friday at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla. The victory gave owner-trainer-breeder C.R. Trout his second stakes win of the night.

Jockey Richard Eramia gave Trout, an Edmond, Okla., resident, his first of the night aboard Fast Breakin Cash in the $70,000 Silver Goblin Stakes. Jockey Jose Alvarez was aboard Hits Pricey Legacy for her victory in the Slide Show. She went off the second favorite in the race at 6-5 odds.

Morning Twilight, a $310,000 purchase by West Point Thoroughbreds at the Ocala Breeders Sale in Florida this year, was sent off as the 4-5 wagering favorite after beating Hits Pricey Legacy by 7-1/2 lengths at six furlongs in the $100,000 Oklahoma Classics Lassie on Oct. 15. The extra distance, stretching to a mile for the Slide Show and another race under her belt, gave Hits Pricey Legacy the edge she needed to shine.

Morning Twilight was 1-3/4 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Circle Back Girl (18-1). Hits Pricey Legacy paid $4.60 to win, $2.40 to place, and $2.10 to show. She is a juvenile daughter of Den's Legacy, out of the Concord Point mare High Price Hit, and a Trout homebred.

Alvarez kept Hits Pricey Legacy in mid-pack in the early going and took over dominantly at the top of the stretch, ahead by two lengths. She then pulled away without much asking to score the one mile in 1:40.34 over a fast track.

Hits Pricey Legacy earned $45,000 for the trip to the winner's circle and she improved to four starts with two wins and two seconds. Her bankroll bulged to $97,255. It was the first win in the Slide Show stakes for all the connections.

The Slide Show is named in honor of the Oklahoma-bred filly who was near perfect in her career at Remington Park, winning 11 consecutive starts from 1993 to 1995, eight of them stakes events. Her only local defeat came in her final start, when she was third in an allowance event.

The early fractions for the mile race were :24.84 for the quarter-mile, :49.97 for the half-mile, 1:15.71 for three-quarters of a mile, and 1:28.02 for seven eighths. In her four starts, Hits Pricey Legacy broke her maiden on Aug. 27 at first asking at Remington Park. She then was the bridesmaid in the $50,000 E.L. Gaylord Memorial Stakes on Sept. 26 and in the $100,000 Oklahoma Classics Lassie.

Remington Park racing concludes this week with a Saturday night card of nine races. First post time is 7:07 pm Central.

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Sunday Flashback Outlasts Our Musical Moment To Take Oklahoma Classics Distaff Sprint

Trainer C.R. Trout said Sunday Flashback's shins went south on her after she broke her maiden at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Oct. 30 last year, but that didn't stop him from winning his career 15th Oklahoma Classics race with her on Friday night.

The 3-year-old filly by Flashback, out of the Sunday Break (JPN) mare Sundayville Break, returned from the long layoff to heal up from October last year to Sept. 10 this year to win by 14-1/2 lengths in allowance company. That was an indication that she would be the one to beat in the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Distaff Sprint, presented by Global Gaming Solutions. Heavily favored in the wagering at 1-5 odds, Sunday Flashback didn't exactly win as one would expect at such a low price.

An indication that it might not be Sunday Flashback's night was when she acted up in the paddock and then again at the gate. It was not a surprise after that when jockey Jose Alvarez had to fight tooth and nail at the wire with 23-1 longshot Our Musical Moment for the win. Sunday Flashback finally prevailed by a head after breaking seventh from the gate.

“I knew she was going to be special all along,” Trout said. “But those shins were not good after last year. We gave her some time to heal and now she has been training forwardly since we brought her back.”

She paid $2.40, $2.20, and $2.10 to win, place, and show. Our Musical Moment was another three lengths ahead of Casino Queen (9-1) in third. The remaining order of finish was Don't Touch My Man (4th), Stormieis Blue (5th), Kallie Sioux (6th), Yak Attack (7th), Sweet Mary M (8th), Polly Tiz (9th), and Machos Vision (10th).

This was also Trout's fourth win in the Classics F&M Sprint. He was in the winner's circle in 2010, 2016, and 2017 with Shotgun Gulch, Euro K Shotgun, and Hailstorm Slew, respectively.

Alvarez was a winner for the first time in an Oklahoma Classics race. Trout not only trains the filly, but owns her and bred her. He broke a three-year win streak for trainer Kenny Smith in this race, who had won with Three Chords in 2018-2020.

Alvarez sat in mid-pack down the backstretch of the six-furlong race and didn't catch front-runner Casino Queen until deep stretch. There, he engaged his filly with the longshot Our Musical Moment and they battled to the finish line.

Early fractions for the race were set by third-place finisher Casino Queen, going :21.86 for the quarter-mile, :45.26 for the half-mile, and :57.89 for five-eighths of a mile. The winning time for Sunday Flashback was 1:10.82 over the fast track. In her two previous wins, the filly had been on the lead of her sprints almost immediately.

“I don't know why she broke so badly,” said Trout, “whether the ground broke out from under her or what. She acted goofy in the gate, so maybe that was it.”

Sunday Flashback earned $78,000 for the win and improved to three wins from four starts. She was third in her other attempt when she finished behind stakes-quality fillies Gotta See Red and Twilight Curfew in the $100,000 Oklahoma Classics Lassie last year. Her bankroll after only four tries is $134,306.

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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