Luis Quinonez | Horse Racing Free Tips

Run Slewpy Run Takes Oklahoma Classics Distaff Turf At Remington Park

Run Slewpy Run kept the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Distaff Turf, presented by WWLS-the Sports Animal, trophy in the family for the third year in a row with a win Friday night at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Alternative Slew, a half-sister to Run Slewpy Run, had won this race the past two years and in this year's edition, the two were running against each other. They showed that bloodlines ring true as Run Slewpy Run won and a fast-closing Alternative Slew ran second, three lengths back.

This was an all-family deal, too. Alternative Slew was trained in 2019-2020 by Randy Oberlander, father of this year's Distaff Turf winning trainer Jesse Oberlander. Jesse has trained now for two years and has started to make a name for himself after his dad retired this year.

When asked what his dad thought of his early success, taking down stakes wins, Jesse said, “He's a man of few words. He's busy playing with grandkids.”

Both horses are owned and bred by Mike Jones of Bristow, Okla.

Alternative Slew had a layoff from December of last year to Sept. 10 when she ran third in her only start of this year. She had been laid off so long because of an accident in her stall that almost cost her an eye. She and Run Slewpy Run are both from the same dam (mother), Imadancingslew. Run Slewpy Run was sired by Den's Legacy and Alternative Slew by Alternation. Even though Alternative Slew was proven at this distance of 1 1/16th miles on the lawn, while Run Slewpy Run's two wins greensward were at 7 1/2 furlongs, leaving some wonder if she could handle the extra measure.

“I didn't know whether she would get the 1 1/16th miles,” said Jesse Oberlander, “and with her running against her sister, I didn't know who would run first or second.”

Now he knows, even though Alternative Slew showed some improvement in her second start off the long layoff. Still, she finished second at 2-1 odds to her 6-5 favored sibling, beaten three lengths. Alternative Slew finished 2-3/4 lengths in front of Twilight Curfew (10-1) in third.

The remaining order of finish in the Distaff Turf was Country Daisy (4th), Leather and Lace (5th), Tiztheboss (6th), Hawaiian Typhoon (7th), Tic Toc Toccet (8th), and Courtly (9th).

Jockey Luis Quinonez won with Run Slewpy Run and was aboard Alternative Slew last year in her win. It was Quinonez's 21st win in an Oklahoma Classics race, tying him for second all-time with Don Pettinger. Quinonez is now five wins behind Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame jockey and all-time winningest jockey at Remington Park, Cliff Berry. Quinonez has won the Classics Distaff Turf five times now. His other three victories came with Bringinginthelute in 2014, Soonerette in 2012, and In the Band in 2011.

This was the third Distaff win for Jones, all in a row with Alternative Slew (twice) and now Run Slewpy Run.

Run Slewpy Run sat second most of the race, chasing front-runner Hawaiian Typhoon's fractions of :23.83 for the quarter-mile, :47.63 for the half-mile, 1:12.41 for three-quarters of a mile, and 1:37.01 for one mile. The finish time for the winner was 1:43.28 over firm turf.

Run Slewpy Run paid $4.60, $2.60, and $2.40 to win, place, and show. She earned $78,000 from the purse and improved to nine starts, four wins, and two seconds for $188,631 in her wallet. She is now three-for-three on the Remington Park grass with $143,868 in earnings from those races.

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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Quinonez, Run Slewpy Run Combine For Another Win At Remington Park

Owner Mike Jones of Bristow, Okla., and trainer Jesse Oberlander have figured out the key to Run Slewpy Run winning races and it worked again Friday night in the $70,000 Bob Barry Memorial Stakes.

The key is jockey Luis Quinonez.

“Yeah, I've only ridden her three times and I've won all three,” said Quinonez, with a laugh after the 3-year-old filly powered home gate to wire in this 7-1/2 furlongs race on the turf at 5-2 odds.

Run Slewpy Run gave Jones his second win in the past three years in this race, also taking home the trophy in 2019 with Alternative Slew. Randy Oberlander, Jesse's dad, trained that one to the win and Iram Diego rode her.

Run Slewpy Run is a half-sister to Alternative Slew. They both loved the grass and the reason Oberlander and Jones trusted this one to run big in this spot. Both of those turf stakes-winning fillies had Imadancingslew for a dam (mother). She passed away on June 2, 2019. The most amazing stat concerning these two stakes winners is that they show up as Imadancingslew's first two foals. She only had one other, Dancing Devil, who is now a 2-year-old gelding. He has had one start, finishing sixth in a maiden race at Remington.

This 3-year-old filly by Den's Legacy, out of the dam whose sire was Evansville Slew, earned $42,000 for the victory and now has raced eight times with three wins and two seconds for $110,631 in her bankroll. Run Slewpy Run is two-for-two on the turf, winning an allowance race with Quinonez up on Sept. 2 here going the same distance as Friday night. Quinonez's third win in the irons came on Dec. 3, 2020, with Oklahoma-bred 2-year-old fillies, sprinting 6 furlongs on the dirt.

“She broke alert and felt comfortable,” said Quinonez. “She really kicked it on in the stretch when I asked her for what she had left.”

Jesse Oberlander said she likes the turf and she will continue on that surface in the future.

Run Slewpy Run and Machos Vision vied for the early lead and the former took over on the far turn and the latter faded to last. Quinonez let out a notch at the top of the stretch and the lead grew to 1-1/2 lengths before she drew away to win by three lengths. Country Daisy, the 2-1 wagering favorite, came rolling from mid-pack to get up for second, a neck ahead of She's All Wolfe (3-1). Run Slewpy Run paid $7.40 to win, $3.80 to place, and $2.60 to show. She finished in a time of 1:29.21 over the firm going. The early fractions were :24.05 for the first quarter-mile, :48.11 for the half-mile, and then 1:11.89 for three-quarters of a mile. She is a homebred horse by her owner.

The Bob Barry Memorial is named in honor of legendary sports broadcasters Bob Barry, Sr. and Bob Barry Jr. Between the father and son, they covered over 60 years of sports in Oklahoma, winning numerous sportscaster of the year awards.

Run Slewpy Run won the final race of the evening at Remington Park. She completed the Sooner 6ix mandatory payout wager, races 4-9. Those with tickets holding six consecutive winners were paid $5,206.78 each from a betting pool of $151,448 that was coupled with a carryover pool of $46,974.58. The odds for the winning horses in the combination were 7-2, 4-1, 5-2, 3-1, 2-1, and 5-2.

Racing continues this week with a Saturday-Sunday schedule. It's the only Sunday race day of the meet, serving as Oklahoma Derby Day. Post time is 3 p.m. on Sept. 26, while Saturday night begins at 7:07 p.m. All times are Central.

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Jockey Quinonez Moves Into Second In All-Time Wins At Remington Park

It was one Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame jockey moving past another into second place in the all-time wins category at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., when Luis Quinonez won the third race of the night aboard Ace Gilford.

It gave Quinonez 1,420 wins here, one more than Don Pettinger. The win puts the veteran journeyman 705 behind all-time leader Cliff Berry, who had 2,125. Fittingly, Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame trainer Donnie Von Hemel gave Quinonez a leg up on Ace Gilford, a 4-year-old gelded son of Tale of the Cat, out of the Indian Charlie mare Indianella. He races for owner Dream Walkin Farms (Toby Keith) of Norman, Okla.

If you're going to reach a milestone, it should be done in impressive fashion and Quinonez did not pass up that opportunity. His mount flew to the front out of the gate in this 5-1/2 furlongs race on the main track and just kept widening his lead to the wire. As he hit the finish line in 1:05.31 over the fast track, he was 6-1/2 lengths ahead of everyone. Ace Gilford was sent off as the 2-1 second wagering favorite and made every pole a winning one, setting interior fractions of :22:91 for the first quarter-mile, :46.81 for the half-mile and :58.91 for five-eighths of a mile.

Ace Gilford paid $6 to win, $3.20 to place, and $2.60 to show. Bred in Kentucky by the owner, Ace Gilford won for the first time in seven tries, scoring in his career debut at Remington Park. He had hit the board in his last two starts at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., with maiden claimers. Von Hemel gave him nearly five months off and the gelding fired fresh on all cylinders.

Quinonez, inducted into the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2017, needs only 99 more wins to reach 4,000 for his career. Only Berry, Quinonez, and Pettinger have won more than 1,000 races at Remington Park. Two other Oklahoma Racing Hall of Famer jockeys round out the top five – Tim Doocy with 796 and the late Pat Steinberg with 727.

Quinonez has had 26,833 mounts in his career with 3,901 wins, compiling $76,907,686 in horses' earnings, according to Equibase statistics. His top horses have included Grade 2 winners Alternation and Gold Medal Dancer. He also won with Grade 3 winners Suddenbreakingnews, Shotgun Kowboy, She's All In, Maysville Slew, and Injustice.

Quinonez made it to the Kentucky Derby once, aboard Suddenbreakingnews, the 2016 winner of the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park for Von Hemel. They had teamed up to win the Clever Trevor Stakes at Remington Park in 2015.

Quinonez said he got his first win at Remington Park on his first mount in 1989 when he was in his early 20s aboard New Writer. He beat such riders as Berry, Steinberg (winner of seven riding titles in the early days of the track and an Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Famer), Dale Cordova (10th all-time here and regular rider for Silver Goblin), and Tony McNeil, now the paddock judge at Remington Park. Quinonez now is 54 years old and says retirement doesn't even cross his mind.

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Veteran Rider Luis Quinonez Approaching Remington Park Milestone Held By Retired Don Pettinger

Veteran jockey Luis Quinonez needs three more wins to move into second place in the all-time rider standings at Remington Park, ahead of the retired Don Pettinger.

Pettinger finished his career with 1,419 Remington Park victories, 706 behind all-time leader Cliff Berry, who had 2,125. All three riders are in the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Quinonez, 54, came into this meet with 1,416 and has one win in the first four days. He needs 101 more wins to reach 4,000 trips to the winner's circle overall in his career.

“I used to think, 'I'd really like to get to 4,000,' but the last couple of years, it's gotten a little tougher,” said Quinonez, who makes his home in Jones, Okla., just outside of Oklahoma City. “Now it's, 'If I get to 4,000 that would be great. I'm not going to sweat it.'”

He said he will celebrate if and when he moves into second place.

“I got my first win at Remington Park on my very first mount in 1989 when I was about 22 or 23 years old,” he said. “I had just gotten my riding license. I was just galloping horses in 1988, the first year here. The next year, I won on the first horse I rode – New Writer.”

His horse went off at odds of 22-1 for trainer Cliff Darnell and came home with Quinonez's patented late run on the turf. He beat such riders as Berry, the late Pat Steinberg (winner of nine riding titles in the early days of the track and an Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Famer), Dale Cordova (10th all-time here and regular rider for Silver Goblin), and Tony McNeil, now the paddock judge at Remington Park.

“Second place would be great, fantastic,” said Quinonez. “I have so many memories at Remington Park, some good and some bad.”

He said one horse almost broke his neck after finishing second in the race.

“He jumped the tracks at the wire and I tried to grab his mane but I came off,” he said. “We still ran second because it was after the finish, but I came back with a bloody nose.”

Was he injured badly?

“Hey, I came back and won the very next race,” he said.

A jockey doesn't win almost 4,000 times without a few X-rays in his life. He said he's had several concussions at Remington Park in his career, but nothing major. And then there are the good memories.

He made it to the Kentucky Derby once aboard Suddenbreakingnews, the 2016 winner of the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park for trainer Donnie Von Hemel. The best trivia question to come out of that win has to do with who ran second. It was none other than Whitmore, who went on to win the 2020 Breeder's Cup Sprint. Suddenbreakingnews won the Clever Trevor Stakes at Remington Park and finished second in the Springboard Mile in the fall of 2015 before moving to Oaklawn. After winning the Southwest, he ran second to Creator in the Arkansas Derby. Whitmore was third.

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“Suddenbreakingnews has to be my all-time favorite because he got me to the Big Dance (Kentucky Derby),” said Quinonez. “Shotgun Kowboy ($1,548,648 earner) and Alternation ($1,064,727) were right up there and Brownie Points ($957,230), but going to the Kentucky Derby was awesome.”

It might have been awesome, but it was a nightmare for him early on.

“We drew the 2-hole and we almost got dropped twice before we went under the wire the first time,” he said. “I really thought we had a chance to win the Derby. I always wanted another chance. I'd been on horses that finished 22nd and 23rd in the Kentucky Derby list (top 20 get in) a few times, but this was my only chance. When I finally got going on him (with clear sailing) the horses on the final turn came out, off the rail, so I took it. We were closing fast and I thought I was going to finish third.”

Suddenbreakingnews finished fifth, less than five lengths behind the 2016 Derby winner Nyquist. Quinonez was within a head and a nose from running third. Exaggerator was second, Gun Runner (2017 Horse of the Year) third and Mohayem fourth.

“I thought we'd catch Gun Runner, but he just had enough left,” Quinonez said.

Quinonez said he still loves riding and competing.

“I still am in pretty good shape,” he said. “I'm not as young now, but this will be fun trying to catch Pettinger for second. I don't think I can catch Cliff, but that's OK. He's my brother from another mother. We've been roommates before and we always play golf together. I don't think I can, but you never know.”

Times have certainly changed. Quinonez won only four races that first year at Remington Park.

“And Cliff only won two, I think,” he said. “He won his first one early and then he ran second about 60 times before winning one more.”

Quinonez, going into Wednesday night's race card at Remington, has had 26,803 starts in his career with 3,899 wins, 3,690 seconds and 3,532 thirds for $76,805,803 from his horses' earnings. At Remington Park, he has ridden 9,719 times with 1,417 wins; 1,344 seconds, and 1,225 thirds for earnings in excess of $25 million.

With a little luck, he could tie the record Wednesday night. He has only two mounts – My Baby Blue (10-1) in the fifth race and Alternative Slew (5-2) in the eighth.

This is the first week Remington Park moves into a four-night racing week, with cards scheduled Wednesday through Saturday, Sept. 1-4. First post nightly is 7:07pm-Central.

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