The newest class for the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame at Remington Park was inducted during the races Saturday night. The class included Welder, the all-time winningest horse at Remington Park, and the all-time winningest owner, Danny Caldwell of Poteau, Okla.
A group of four horses and Caldwell were honored between races. This group was the first to be added to the Hall of Fame for Thoroughbred achievements since 2017.
Welder – All-time winningest Horse at Remington Park
Welder racked up 16 career wins in Oklahoma City, to set the new standard for local scores, passing Highland Ice and Elegant Exxactsy, who each had 15. Ra-Max's streak of gray lightning became a three-time Remington Park Horse of the Meeting (2018-2020). No other horse has ever won it more than once. The late, great Clayton Rash of Claremore, Okla., campaigned Welder like a champion and passed away just a few months after his last race. Under the training of Teri Luneack, this gelded Oklahoma-bred son of The Visualiser from the Tiznow mare Dance Softly, amassed more than $1.2 million in earnings with $889,340 of it gained at Remington Park. He stands fifth on the all-time Oklahoma-bred earnings behind Kip Deville, Lady's Secret, Shotgun Kowboy and Clever Trevor.
“I just wish Clayton was here; it would have been icing on the cake for him,” said Luneack. “He would have been so proud. My favorite race here for Welder was the David Vance (Sprint) when he beat all the shippers from around the country. I was so happy to show Oklahoma-breds could beat Kentucky-breds and set the track record at six-furlongs that night.”
Welder won 12 of 13 races during his Horse of the Meeting seasons and won at distances from five furlongs to 6-1/2 furlongs in his career here.
“I think Clayton would just have said it was such an honor,” said his wife, Toni. “My favorite thing about Welder is the love Clayton and Teri had for him.”
Welder set the new Remington Park win mark, in what turned out to be his final victory before retirement, on Aug. 27, 2021. Welder also owns the Remington Park record for most stakes wins with 11.
Danny Caldwell – All-time winningest Owner
A resident of Poteau, Okla. and former high school educator and coach, Caldwell is the all-time leading owner by wins at Remington Park with 424 through Sept. 23. He was a coach at Panama (Okla.) High School in softball, football and basketball, taking his softball team to the state tournament seven times.
“Some 23 years ago, I was up there coaching my softball team,” he said, pointing at the Softball Hall of Fame field just up the hill from Remington Park. “Who would have thought 23 years later I'd be here, going into this Hall of Fame. I thought I might make into the Oklahoma high school Hall of Fame as a coach, but this is awesome. My mom is here and she rarely gets over, my wife (Allison), my family, and my partner Toby Keith, with all my friends.”
Caldwell went all-in for horse racing as the millennium started, using a business model of claiming horses, finding winning spots to race and elevating them if possible. Many of his claims went on to become stakes winners at Remington Park including Fifth Date and Dont Tell Noobody (Oklahoma Classics Cup winners), Rated R Superstar (two-time Governor's Cup winner) and Eurobond (Oklahoma Classics Sprint), among others.
Shotgun Kowboy – 2015 Oklahoma Derby Winner
Owned, trained and bred in Oklahoma by Hall of Famer C.R. Trout, Shotgun Kowboy became just the second state-bred horse to win the Oklahoma Derby. Prior to 2015, the only other to win the richest race at Remington Park was the legendary Clever Trevor in 1989.
“This brought back a lot of memories,” said Trout. “He really did well here, but he raced well all over the country.”
A multiple stakes winner at Remington Park, the gelded son of Kodiak Kowboy from the Siphon (Brz) mare Shotgun Jane, left the sprint ranks to win his derby and won 11 of his 15 triumphs between distances of 1 mile-70 yards and 1-1/8 miles. Shotgun Kowboy won the Oklahoma Classics Cup a record four times (2015, 2017-2019). He won 10 times at Remington Park with two seconds and four thirds, finishing off the board only once in 17 Oklahoma City starts. A career earner of more than $1.5 million, Shotgun Kowboy almost reached a million at Remington Park, piling up $982,020. He was retired by Trout at the end of the 2019 campaign.
Slide Show – Nearly Perfect Stakes-winning Filly
A superstar filly in the early years of Remington Park, Slide Show almost completed an undefeated career in Oklahoma City. Owned by Joe Colley and Deanne White, Slide Show burst onto the scene a winning 2-year-old in 1993. Trained by Wade White, the Oklahoma-bred daughter of Slewacide from the Silent Screen broodmare Screen Landing, won 11 consecutive races at Remington Park from 1993 to 1995, including seven stakes races.
“I remember all her Oklahoma Classics wins because it was always around my birthday,” said Reid Colley, Joe's son. “Her second in the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn (in Hot Springs, Ark.) sticks in my memory as well. Dad had a lot of winners in the Classics including Harry N Jerry. The one thing that Dad told me that was impressive was that Berry Gordy, the legendary Motown music producer made an offer on Slide Show once but he turned him down.”
Among the big-money scores for Slide Show were three Oklahoma Classics events, the Lassie (1993), the Distaff (1994) and a victory over males in the Classics Cup (1995). Slide Show only tasted defeat once at Remington Park, in her 12th and final start here. Slide Show earned $215,306 in her 12 Remington Park attempts. Overall, she won 12 of 25 career starts with five seconds and two thirds for total earnings of $347,917, competing from 1993-1996.
Darrell Darrell – Versatile Stakes-winning Sprinter from early 1990s
A fan favorite from 1990 to 1996, Darrell Darrell racked up sprint victories against fellow Oklahoma-breds, and in open company. Triumphant at sprint measures from 5-1/2 to 7 furlongs, Darrell Darrell even won a 1,000-yard match race in the “Rumble at Remington” in June 1993 when he defeated EJ Cash Bo, an American Quarter Horse, by one length.
Owned by Jean Dillard of Ringling, Okla. and trained during his finest years by Normie Thomas, Jr., Darrell Darrell was by Boca Rio from the King's Bishop mare Harrys Queen. He finished in the money in 25 of 28 Remington Park starts with 14 local victories and local earnings of $328,155, an astronomical amount for the early 1990s. Overall, Darrell Darrell won 24 career races from 54 starts, making more nearly $600,000.
“Lordy, was he magnificent,” said Jean Dillard's daughter Katarina, fighting back tears. “He was strong and personable and had a great life. Mother took great care of him.”
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