Rowdy Rascal Best In Don C. McNeill Stakes At Remington Park

Rowdy Rascal was full of run Friday night, winning the $75,000 Don C. McNeill Stakes but his owners said that wasn't what he was full of when he was a foal.

“When he was two days old, he was all over his stall and his mother was beside herself,” said owner Theresa Moore of JT Stables of Springdale, Ark. “My dad saw him and said, 'Man, he's a rowdy rascal!' And there you have it.”

Even now, winning the Don McNeill and the $100,000 Oklahoma Classics Juvenile at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., trainer Boyd “Jobe” Caster says he isn't anywhere near his peak ability because of his rowdiness.

“If he ever takes racing seriously, no telling what he will be able to do,” said Caster. “He is what he is. This is still a game to him. He's so immature. But he should be a nice 3-year-old. He is what he is.”

What he is is a multiple stakes winner and jockey Freddy Manrrique and Caster put him in the category of a possible $400,000 Springboard Mile candidate at the end of the meet, Dec. 17.

“Mr. Caster thinks he is the best 2-year-old at Remington Park,” said Manrrique. “We work hard every morning. I was confident, but he is just a baby. I have to let him know I'm there if he needs me (during the race). He was getting out a little so I had to remind him.”

Rowdy Rascal, a juvenile gelding by Den's Legacy, out of the Affirmatif mare Dancing Diva, earned $45,000 for the victory and is showing the same kind of bloodlines his dam (mother) had.

“We campaigned the mom and she was a champion sprinter in Oklahoma,” said Moore. “We bred her to Den's Legacy to try to get more distance and he's showing it was a good idea.”

Rowdy Rascal covered the one mile in 1:40.38 over the fast track after sitting mid-pack throughout the first half-mile. He came flying on the outside at the top of the lane and gained a one-length lead quickly that turned into three lengths at the wire. He went off as the 7-5 betting favorite and paid $4.80 to win, $3 to place, and $2.40 to show.

Rowdy Rascal improved his record to six starts, three wins, and one second for a bankroll of $132,859. Showing his adolescent side, he didn't win the first race of his career until his fourth attempt, on Sept. 18 this meet at Remington Park. He has won three in a row, including that maiden victory, increasing his speed and endurance with each race. He ran second to Cuatro Madres in a maiden event here on Aug. 28, but Friday night, Rowdy Rascal beat that horse by three lengths. Cuatro Madres (2-1) got up for second, 4-1/4 lengths in front of third-place finisher Beckett's Luckyday (10-1).

The fractions for the race were :24.10 for the first quarter-mile, :48.97 for the half-mile, 1:14.34 for three-quarters of a mile, and 1:27.17 for seven-eighths of a mile.

The score for Rowdy Rascal gives his connections their first triumph in the Don McNeill Stakes. The race is named in honor of the late Don McNeill. The owner and breeder who was so prominent in Oklahoma-bred racing, represented by many talented horses including top Oklahoma-breds Clever Trevor and Mr. Ross, as well as 2011 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Caleb's Posse. McNeill passed in 2015.

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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Fast Breakin Cash Finds Winner’s Circle In Silver Goblin At Remington Park

For the first time since 2017, there is a Silver Goblin Stakes winner not named Welder and it is Fast Breakin Cash at 9-1 odds Friday night at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Welder won the race four times from 2017-2020 for Ra-Max Farms (Clayton Rash) of Claremore, Okla., and is now retired, getting fed peppermints by trainer Teri Luneack. The stakes races he won regularly for years at Remington Park now continue without him. It was far from the odds-on favoritism Welder garnered as the all-time winningest horse (16 wins) at Remington Park in the winner's circle. One has to go all the way back to Okie Ride in 2016 for a different winner.

Fast Breakin Cash had not won a race, any race, since Nov. 7, 2019, and had never won a stakes race in his career. In contrast, Welder holds the record at Remington Park with 11 stakes victories in his career.

It was almost like the favorites in this $70,000 Silver Goblin Stakes race didn't know how to act without Welder to chase. The top three favorites in the field ran last, next-to-last and second-to-last in this year's edition. Shannon C, the beaten wagering favorite at 8-5 odds, who had run second to Welder four times in his career, was expected to take the crown Friday after winning two stakes in a row. However, he faltered after a half mile and ran last, beaten 15-1/2 lengths. Quality Rocket (2-1) and Mesa Moon (5-2) finished fourth and fifth.

With the favorites falling to the wayside, it opened the door for Fast Breakin Cash to taste the glory of a black-type win for the first time. Jockey Richard Eramia was well back in fifth down the backstretch, leisurely letting the front-runners set fractions of :22.14 for the first quarter-mile and :45.33 for the half-mile. By the time the pacesetters began to collapse at the top of the stretch, Fast Breakin Cash, trained by C.R. Trout, pounced. He was within a 3-1/4 lengths by the time he hit the turn for home and had all the momentum. At the finish line, he was in front by three-quarters of a length, outlasting runner-up Euromantic (6-1), who was another three-quarters up on third-place Tommyhawk (32-1), the longest shot on the board. Fast Breakin Cash hit the line for 6-1/2 furlongs in 1:17.88 over a fast track.

“It was a beautiful trip,” said Eramia. “I knew exactly what I wanted to do before the race. Make one run at the end. He wanted to win so bad.”

Trout also owns and bred Fast Breakin Cash. He won two of the three stakes races on the Friday card, also taking the $75,000 Slide Show for 2-year-old fillies that were Oklahoma-foaled with Hits Pricey Legacy.

It was the first victory in the Silver Goblin Stakes for all the connections. Fast Breakin Cash, a 5-year-old gelded son of Yes It's True, out of the Forestry mare Fast N Fine Lookin, earned $42,000 for Trout and improved his record to 22 starts, four wins, six seconds and two thirds for $265,293 earned. His best stakes effort at Remington Park before Friday night may have been a runner-up finish by one length to Dont Tell Noobody in last year's $175,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup on Oct. 16.

Fast Breakin Cash rewarded his backers with $20.60 to win, $8.60 to place, and $5.60 to show. Euromantic paid $6.60 to place and $4.80 to show. Tommyhawk paid $6.20 to show.

The Silver Goblin Stakes is named after the gray Oklahoma-bred millionaire who won multiple stakes races at Remington Park and numerous graded stakes events around the nation, in a career spanning 1993-1999.

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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Baffert To Saddle Three Out Of Five Entries In Sunday’s Bob Hope Stakes

Trainer Bob Baffert has Sunday's Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar surrounded.

The white-haired, Hall of Fame conditioner has not one, not two, but three of the five 2-year-olds in the lineup for the seven-furlong headliner that carries a $100,000 purse. It will go as the day's 8th race on a nine-race program that has a first post of 12:30 p.m.

The Baffert threesome consists of SF Racing, Starlight Racing, et al's Messier; Baoma Corp's Kamui, and HRH Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud's Winning Map.

The rest of the compact lineup is filled by Lovingier, London or Zondio's Rock N Rye and MyRacehorse.com and Spendthrift Farm's Forbidden Kingdom.

However, trainer Walther Solis indicating Friday morning that Rock N Rye would be scratched from the Hope in favor of a stakes for California breds later on.

Baffert is the king of the 2-year-old set at Del Mar – and he's some degree of royalty at other tracks around the country in that regard, too. By way of example locally, he's won Del Mar's top race for 2-year-olds, the Del Mar Futurity, 14 times. When it comes to the Bob Hope, which has been run locally seven times, Baffert has headed to the winner's circle after it four times already.

Here's the full field in post-position order with riders and morning line odds:

  1. Messier (Flavien Prat, 8/5)
  2. Kamui (Abel Cedillo, 5/2)
  3. Winning Map (Mike Smith, 7/5)
  4. Rock N Rye (Umberto Rispoli, 15-1)
  5. Forbidden Kingdom (Juan Hernandez, 9/2)

Favored Winning Map has run only once, but, not surprisingly, it was a dandy. The gray colt by Liam's Map scooted six furlongs at Santa Anita in 1:10.20 on October 3 to win by better than four lengths at 2-5. He's put in a series of solid works since.

Messier clicked by more than six lengths in his second start October 22 at Santa Anita in the same 1:10.20 for six furlongs. He's a bay colt by Empire Maker.

Stablemate Kamui, a Quality Road offspring, was a six-length winner at Los Alamitos on September 11 in his most recent outing.

Forbidden Kingdom, a son of Triple Crown champion American Pharoah, scored at first asking at Del Mar on August 21, then came back to run third in the Speakeasy Stakes on the grass at Santa Anita on October 1. He's trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Richard Mandella.

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Japan: All-White Sodashi Makes The Switch To Dirt In Dec. 5 Champions Cup

All-white cult horse Sodashi is set to try dirt for the first time on her next start in the Champions Cup under a change that could open more options for the Classic winner.

Having registered two G1 wins on turf, including the Oka Sho (Japanese 1,000 Guineas) in April, Japan's 'idol horse' will switch surface to contest the G1 Champions Cup at Chukyo on Dec. 5.

Trainer Naosuke Sugai is taking the route knowing she is bred from a family of dirt winners. Her sire Kurofune won the Japan Cup Dirt in 2001, and her mother Buchiko also scored all four wins in the dirt.

Sugai referred to her pedigree in announcing he would “try it once” and “keep an eye on it” with the race set be run over her ideal distance of 1,800m [9f], adding there would be more options for her if the switch proves successful.

Sodashi, also referred to as a 'unicorn', has become one of Japan's most popular horses, not just because of her rare color but on the track where she has established a record of six wins from eight starts.

She became the first officially white horse to win a G1 during an unbeaten two-year-old campaign and, in addition to winning the Oka Sho, defeated Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Loves Only You in the G2 Sapporo Kinen in September.

She suffered her two defeats in the Japan Oaks and Shuka Sho last time out when she banged her mouth on the starting gate and subsequently had a tooth removed.

This story was reprinted with permission by Horse Racing Planet. Find the original piece and more content here.

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