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Will’s Secret Headlines Probables For Remington Park Oaks

Will's Secret, a Dallas Stewart-trained filly, headlines a field of likely runners in this year's Grade 3, $200,000 Remington Park Oaks, scheduled as a part of a multi-stakes day that includes the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby.

Also on that Sunday, Sept. 26, the all-time winningest horse in Remington Park history, Welder is expected to go for his 28th career win all-time and his 17th victory in Oklahoma City in the $150,000 David M. Vance Stakes.

Will's Secret, a daughter of Will Take Charge, out of the Giant's Causeway mare Girls Secret, began the year by winning the $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., for owner Willis Horton Racing. She followed that with a victory in the Grade 3, $300,000 Honeybee Stakes, also at Oaklawn. She raced in the biggest race of the year for 3-year-old fillies in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks on April 30 at Churchill Downs. Will's Secret finished a respectable third behind the top 3-year-old filly in the country – Malathaat. It was the second third-place finish for her behind that monster, also losing in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes.

Will's Secret was bred in Kentucky by her owner. Her lifetime record is 10 starts, three wins and four thirds for $536,300 in earnings. Her trainer, Stewart, has made a name for himself by finishing second in back-to-back Kentucky Derbies with longshots. He ran second to Orb in 2013 with 34-1 shot Golden Soul and then second to California Chrome in 2014 with Commanding Curve at 37-1.

Stewart also was in charge of a string of D. Wayne Lukas world-class runners that included Horse of the Year Lady's Secret, Kentucky Derby winners Winning Colors (1988) and Thunder Gulch (1995).

Also expected to make the trip to Remington Park for the Oaks is Moon Swag, a filly by Malibu Moon, out of the Put It Back mare Yara, trained by Brendan Walsh. Moon Swag's best race this year came in the Grade 3, $200,000 Indiana Oaks at Indiana Grand racetrack. She lost by only a neck in that race, finishing well ahead of Will's Secret.

Moon Swag was bred by Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky and is owned by Brad King, Jim Cone, Scott Bryant and Stan and Suzanne Kirby. She has won two of nine starts with one second and three thirds for $163,400 earned.

Another filly confirmed for the Oaks is Crazy Beautiful, a daughter of Liam's Map, out of an Indian Charlie mare, Indian Burn. She is trained by Kenny McPeek and owned by Phoenix Thoroughbred III. She was bred in Kentucky by Carolyn Vogel. This filly has won two of her last three starts and would come in from Saratoga where she last raced in the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes. She had won the Grade 2, $200,000 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita and the Grade 3, Delaware Oaks at Delaware Park. She took the Summertime Oaks by 1-3/4 lengths before blowing away a field at Delaware by six lengths. Among McPeek's superstar trainees have been Take Charge Lady, Swiss Skydiver and Harlan's Holiday. He has trained eight horses that have surpassed the $1 million mark in earnings and has conditioned horses that have won $91 million-plus in his career.

Crazy Beautiful has had 11 starts, five wins and three seconds for a bankroll of $709,865. She would be the top earner in the Remington Park Oaks should she enter.

Another with a graded stakes win on her resume expected for the Oaks is My Girl Red. Owned by Erich Brehm of Weatherford, Texas and trained by Steve Asmussen, My Girl Red won the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar as a 2-year-old in 2020.

A daughter of Texas Red from the Fusaichi Pegasus mare Morakami, My Girl Red has been searching for consistency most of 2021. She has just one win, in allowance company at Lone Star Park this summer. She started in a five-furlong sprint over the turf on the opening night of this Remington Park season, finishing last in a field of eight. The Remington Park Oaks would be just the second start on a main track, around two turns, for My Girl Red.

The Oklahoma Derby and Oaks headline a big stakes afternoon on the only Sunday scheduled during the Remington Park season. The total stakes card includes:

Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby
Grade 3, $200,000 Remington Park Oaks
$150,000 David M. Vance Stakes
$100,000 Remington Green Stakes
$75,000 Ricks Memorial Stakes
$75,000 Kip Deville Stakes
$50,000 Flashy Lady Stakes
$50,000 E. L. Gaylord Memorial Stakes

Remington Park Stakes Coordinator Don Thompson says Keepinmind, Team Merchants, King Fury, Warrant and Fulsome are all possible starters for the Oklahoma Derby.

Racing continues this week with an eight-race card Thursday night and a pair of nine-race cards Friday and Saturday. First post time is 7:07 p.m. each night.

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2021 Iroquois Stakes at a Glance

Believe it or not, it’s time to start thinking about the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve once again. Saturday’s Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes for 2-year-olds at Churchill Downs starts the long and winding road to the run for the roses, with the top four finishers earning 10-4-2-1 points that could come in handy next year on the first Saturday in May.

Wondrwherecraigis Steps Back To Graded Company In Saturday’s De Francis Memorial

With two straight wins under his belt including a long-awaited first stakes triumph and returning to a track where he has yet to lose, the timing is ideal for Wondrwherecraigis to step back into graded company in Saturday's $200,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) at Laurel Park.

The 30th running of the six-furlong De Francis for 3-year-olds and up headlines four stakes worth $500,000 in purses on a 11-race program that includes the $100,000 Weather Vane for fillies and mares 3 and up, also at six furlongs, and a pair of $100,000 stakes going one mile – the Polynesian for 3-year-olds and up and Twixt for females 3 and older.

All four races are part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series. First race post time is 12:40 p.m.

Named for the late president and chairman of both Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course, the De Francis' illustrious roster of winners includes Hall of Famer Housebuster, fellow sprint champions Cherokee Run, Smoke Glacken, Thor's Echo and Benny the Bull, and Lite the Fuse, the race's only two-time winner (1995-96) honored with his own stakes race in Maryland.

Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group and Bethlehem Stables' Wondrwherecraigis enters the De Francis off front-running scores, both at six furlongs, in a July optional claiming allowance at historic Pimlico Race Course and the Tale of the Cat Aug. 13 at Saratoga, by 8 ½ combined lengths.

The 4-year-old Munnings gelding has breezed twice since over Laurel's newly reconstructed main track, most recently going a half-mile in 49 seconds Sept. 11. He broke his maiden and won an open allowance last spring to start his career in his previous Laurel races.

“It's a new surface and he's been training right along on it, so hopefully he runs as well as he did before,” trainer Brittany Russell said. “I think when a horse like this is doing well, you have to take a shot.”

Wondrwherecraigis ran second, beaten a head, in the Gold Fever last June at Belmont Park but was disqualified to third for interference. He made his graded debut running fourth to Yaupon in the Amsterdam (G2) at Saratoga, after which he was given time off. He returned after nearly nine months with a three-length triumph May 14 at Pimlico on the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) undercard.

“He ran at Saratoga and I brought him back and kept him in training for a little bit,” Russell said. “He was just banged up. There was nothing specific. He had no specific injury, but who's to say had we tried to push on that there wouldn't have been.

“He's a completely different animal now than he was a year ago, and that's due to [the owners] letting me kick him out and do the right thing by him,” she added. “He's been with us for some time, and he's special to us. He's a really cool horse around the barn. He's quite a character, so the fact that he's gotten so far along in his racing to be thinking about trying to win a graded-stakes with him, that in itself is pretty special.”

Wondrwherecraigis was ridden in all four of his local races by Russell's husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, who is out indefinitely with a foot injury suffered Sept. 9. Jevian Toledo will be aboard from Post 5 in a field of six.

“You're going to run against good horses when you're running in good races,” Brittany Russell said. “He's faced good horses and he's been winning the right way. It's not like he just gets the job done. He holds his own the right way.”

Rockingham Ranch and David Bernsen's Grade 1-placed Jalen Journey will go after his second straight win, eighth overall and first in a stakes for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. North America's all-time win leader, Asmussen owns three sprint stakes wins in Maryland this year – the May 15 Chick Lang (G3) with Mighty Mischief, July 4 Lite the Fuse with Yaupon and Aug. 21 Star de Naskra with Jaxon Traveler.

Third in the 2019 Bing Crosby (G1) and fourth in the Pat O'Brien (G2) prior to being sold and moved to Asmussen, Jalen Journey took a two-race win streak into the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) in March, where he ran 10th behind ill-fated Zenden. The 6-year-old ridgling has won two of his last three starts, the most recent an 8 ½-length romp in a third-level optional claiming allowance Aug. 6 at Saratoga, running 6 ½ furlongs in 1:14.67.

“I think he's progressed pretty strongly since we send him to Dubai. He didn't really run all that well over there, whether he didn't handle the trip or what,” Bernsen said. “I think it was more because he was training at Oaklawn Park and they had all those snow problems and it really threw our schedule off for Dubai. They had to cancel the prep race that we had and then they had to walk the horses around the barn for 11 days so it really set him back. I think he was really short going into Dubai.

“Since he got back from there, he's really settled in well. His last race at Saratoga was a really, really big run. It was very impressive in a really, really fast time,” he added. “Sometimes these horses just get good. He ships around pretty easily. I would expect him to put in a pretty respectable run.”

Asmussen, winner of the 2018 De Francis and Maryland Sprint (G3) with Switzerland, enlisted Feargal Lynch to ride from Post 2.

“If he repeats what he did in the last race, that would sort of validate who he is,” Bernsen said. “This is a really solid racehorse.”

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Hillside Equestrian Meadows' multiple stakes winner Laki is entered to defend his victory in the 2020 De Francis, held last fall on the undercard of the Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico when the stakes schedule was reshuffled amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The 8-year-old Maryland-bred gelding rallied to take last year's De Francis by a nose, the first graded triumph for both him and trainer Damon Dilodovico, who also won the De Francis when it was ungraded with Immortal Eyes in 2013.

“That was incredible. My first graded race. You'd like to think you don't count those things but you start to wonder if you'll ever get one,” Dilodovico said. “Two years ago, I thought he'd win a number of them. It's just the way things go. He knocked it out, and it was an exciting race to boot. It was a big day.”

Laki is 11-for-37 lifetime, including 8-for-23 at Laurel, with $831,162 in purse earnings and at least one stakes win five straight years, a streak he extended in the Frank Y. Whiteley going six furlongs April 24 at Pimlico. Subsequently fifth in the Maryland Sprint (G3), most recently he ran seventh in the Chesapeake Aug. 23 at speed-favoring Colonial Downs.

“He runs against quality horses every go. We were a little disappointed last time at Colonial. His style, it's not going to be too successful on a track like that but you never know,” Dilodovico said. “He's been training well this year. I don't really feel like he doesn't show up. They all get beat. He tends to circle back every fourth start or so and really launches a good number. Hopefully he's sitting on one for this.”

Regular rider Horacio Karamanos gets the call from outside Post 6 at topweight of 124 pounds, four more than each of his rivals.

RyZan Sun Racing's Kalu takes a three-race win streak into the De Francis, his stakes debut. The Godolphin-bred, 5-year-old gelded son of Hall of Famer Ghostzapper has won by an average of more than 3 ½ lengths during that stretch, all at six furlongs, a distance where he is 7-for-17 lifetime.

“[The owners], they're super game. They just want to have some fun. We figured this was a horse that we could win some races with and hopefully show up on a big day,” trainer Kent Sweezey said. “He's a fun horse to have. He's very easy, he's laid back, he ships well and he travels good. This will be hopefully a good spot for him.”

Sweeney first claimed Kalu for $8,000 in April 2020 before losing him two months later for $6,250. He was claimed again for the same price last August before rejoining Sweezey over the winter and finishing first or second in eight of his next 11 starts.

“I was thinking just the starter [races] would fit him for the next couple years and then his numbers started coming up real good and I said, 'Lets think about something cool,'” Sweezey said. “Growing up I watched stallions win this race. When you go back and look at the stallion register, there are stallions that have won this race. In years past there have been some really good horses come out of it, not to mention just the history behind Maryland racing and all that. It would be an honor to win a race like that.”

Victor Carrasco will ride Kalu from Post 1.

Trin-Brook Stables, Inc.'s War Tocsin was second to Wondrwherecraigis July 18 at Pimlico. The 5-year-old gelding has been off the board in both of his stakes tries this year, the May 15 Maryland Sprint and seven-furlong Russell Road Aug. 27 at Charles Town.

Terry Overmier's Whiskey and You also exits the July 18 race, where he was fourth, between a fourth to Yaupon in the Lite the Fuse and fifth to Mucho in the July 31 Challedon at Pimlico, his most recent race. All four of his career wins have come at Laurel including back to back March 21 and April 10.

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Lone Rock Will Try To Sustain Hot Streak In Grand Prix American Jockey Club Invitational

Flying P Stable's graded stakes-winner Lone Rock has won his last four starts and will look to extend his streak as part of a six-horse field in Saturday's $300,000 Grand Prix American Jockey Club Invitational for 4-year-olds and up competing at 1 5/8 miles over the Belmont Park main track.

The race's second-ever edition, slated as Race 4, is one of three stakes on Saturday's 11-race card, highlighted by the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Derby Invitational, for 3-year-olds going 1 1/2 miles on the Widener turf, in a “Win and You're In” qualifier to the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf in November at Del Mar while also serving as the final leg of NYRA's Turf Triple series for males; and the $700,000 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational for sophomore fillies going 1 3/8 miles on the inner turf. First post is 1 p.m. Eastern.

Lone Rock has been a force in his 6-year-old campaign, winning five of his six starts for trainer Robertino Diodoro and seven of his last eight overall. His only non-win still resulted in a runner-up effort in the Temperence Hill in March at Oaklawn Park, which preceded victories in a pair of 1 1/2-mile contests in the Isaac Murphy Marathon in April at Churchill Downs followed by a dominating 11 1/4-length score in the Grade 2 Brooklyn presented by Northwell Health on Belmont Stakes Day June 5 over Big Sandy that netted Lone Rock a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

Lone Rock registered a four-length win in the 1 3/4-mile Birdstone on August 5 at historic Saratoga Race Course and will once again contest a marathon distance in running 13 furlongs. After spending the summer stabled at Saratoga, Lone Rock returned to Belmont and breezed four furlongs in 48.26 seconds over the main track on Saturday.

“He's doing great, He had a real good work this past weekend and he's just a monster right now,” Diodoro said. “He's training great, looks great and he's filled out over the past few months. We just have to keep him happy and healthy.”

The Majestic Warrior gelding will attempt to go 2-for-2 at Belmont, drawing post 4 with Ramon Vazquez, who has been aboard for all four wins in the streak, back in the irons.

“Ramon is one of the most underrated riders there is,” Diodoro said. “He has soft and quiet hands and this horse likes that. He puts him in position early, lets him do his thing and I think that's what this horse likes.”

Repole Stable and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Moretti ran on turf for the first time in 15 career starts last out, finishing seventh in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer on August 28 at Saratoga.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will now move the 5-year-old son of Medaglia d'Oro back to the more familiar main track, where Moretti racked up victories in the 2020 Flat Out and Birdstone at Belmont.

No stranger to long distances at Belmont, Moretti ran third in the Grade 2 Brooklyn and followed with a fourth-place effort in the 1 1/4-mile Grade 2 Suburban over a sloppy and sealed track on July 3.

After two starts at Saratoga – finishing third in the 1 3/4-mile Birdstone on August 5 before his foray to grass in the Sword Dancer – Moretti will return to Belmont, breaking from post 5 with Irad Ortiz, Jr. set to ride.

Empty Tomb, claimed for $80,000 out of a third-place finish in a 1 1/8-mile contest on August 7 at the Spa, will make his first start for owner John Grossi's Racing Corp and trainer Robert Falcone, Jr.

The 5-year-old son of Speightstown is 4-4-5 in 20 career starts and will be making his first stakes appearance since running sixth in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Stephen Foster in June at Churchill Downs for then-conditioner Mike Maker. Empty Tomb will be seeking his first career stakes win, exiting from post 3 with Luis Saez picking up the mount following a successful Saratoga meet in which he won the Angel Cordero Jr. riding title.

Locally Owned, who like Lone Rock is owned by Flying P Stable, will return to stakes company for the first time in seven starts. The gelded son of Distorted Humor has finished in the money in two of his four starts since trainer Tom Morley took over the training duties after Locally Owned as claimed for $40,000 out of a seventh-place finish in February at Fair Grounds.

Under Morley's care, Locally Owned bested optional claimers by a half length going 1 1/16 miles over Big Sandy on April 30. Following an off-the-board finish in May at Belmont going a one-turn mile, Locally Owned finished second in a 1 1/8-mile off-the-turf contest on July 25 at Saratoga before running eighth last out on the same track on September 5.

Jockey Dylan Davis will pick up the mount in breaking from the outermost post 6.

Knights R B Stable's Mo Gotcha crossed the wire second in his start two weeks ago but was elevated to first when Candy Tycoon was disqualified. Trainer Naipaul Chatterpaul claimed Mo Gotcha for $40,000 out of that contest, and the 5-year-old Uncle Mo gelding will now make his first start for his new connections in his first-ever stakes appearance in his 21st career start overall.

Jalon Samuel will be aboard Mo Gotcha for the first time, exiting post 1.

Robert Amendola's Chris and Dave has finished on the board in his last nine starts spanning four different trainers. The now 8-year-old Bluegrass Cat gelding has been a popular claiming horse and has done well for current conditioner Mertkan Kantarmaci, who saddled Chris and Dave to a second-place finish in a one-mile off-the-turf optional claimer on July 3 at Belmont before he ran third in a 1 1/8-mile optional claiming race that was also taken off the turf on July 25 at Saratoga.

Kantarmaci, who has won four straight NYRA “Under 20s Claiming Challenges,” will see Manny Franco take over as jockey for Chris and Dave, drawing post 2.

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