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Welder Chasing All-Time Win Record At Remington Park On Friday

Oklahoma-bred millionaire Welder makes his late summer debut at Remington Park on Friday night and in the process could set a record as no other horse in the history of the track has ever won 16 races here.

Welder is currently tied for the most all-time wins with 15, deadlocked with Highland Ice and Elegant Exxactsy. Welder, a gray 8-year-old gelded son of The Visualiser, out of the Tiznow mare Dance Softly, has been made the slight 6-5 favorite over Fair Grounds stakes winner Nitrous (7-5 odds). All-time winningest trainer in racing history, Steve Asmussen, conditions Nitrous.

Welder is owned by Ra-Max Farms (Clayton Rash) of Claremore, Okla., trained by Teri Luneack and will once again be ridden by three-time defending champion jockey at Remington Park, David Cabrera. The streak of lightning gray has earned $1,218,902 in his career, racing 41 times, winning 26, running second five times and third another six. He is one of only eight Oklahoma-breds that have ever earned more than $1 million on the racetrack. That list is led by Kip Deville at $3,325,489, followed by 1986 national Horse of the Year Lady's Secret at $3,021,325; Shotgun Kowboy, $1,548,684; Clever Trevor, $1,388,841; Welder; She's All In, $1,102,489; Mr. Ross, $1,091,046, and Silver Goblin, $1,083,895.

Welder tied the record of 15 wins at Remington Park on Dec. 19, 2020 when he won an open allowance race by three-quarters of a length over Share the Upside, a horse that had beaten Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Whitmore at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. Welder's overall record at Remington Park is 20 starts with 15 wins.

“He's already done everything I've ever asked him to do,” said Luneack. “If he sets more records, that's great for him. If he doesn't, that's great for him, too. I don't feel like the horse owes me or us anything. I don't feel he has anything more to prove. Welder never disappoints me. I love him.”

Here's a list of milestones Welder already has notched in his racing belt:

Only thoroughbred in Oklahoma horse racing history to win All-Breeds Oklahoma Horse of the Year three years in a row. He has won the past three, a reward from Thoroughbred Racing Association of Oklahoma, presented by the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission.
Was voted Horse of the Meet at Remington Park for third year in a row. No other thoroughbred has won that award more than once. Welder has swept all four Champion categories he's been in those three years – Horse of the Meet, Okie-bred, Sprinter and Older Male.
Only horse in Remington Park history to win four stakes races in one season (2018)
Set track record for six furlongs in 1:08.13, winning the David M. Vance Stakes on Sept. 29, 2019.
Eleven consecutive stakes wins at Remington Park, a record that is still live. Those 11 stakes wins is also a record for overall stakes wins here. Okie Ride had 10. Welder has won four Silver Goblins, three Oklahoma Classics Sprints, two David M. Vance Stakes, and two Remington Park Turf Sprints (one was taken off the grass and run on a sloppy track).

This could be Welder's toughest race at Remington Park since he won the Remington Park Turf Sprint by a neck on Sept. 25 last year. This allowance race has horses that certainly are stakes caliber, if not now, in the past.

Nitrous, a 5-year-old son of Tapit, out of the City Zip mare Speedinthruthecity, won the $125,000 Thanksgiving Classic at Fair Grounds in New Orleans in 2020. In October, he lost by only a head in the Grade 3, $200,000 Frank DeFrancis Memorial Dash Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore. Back in 2019, Nitrous came close to winning a Grade 1 Stakes, running second by a neck at Belmont in the Woody Stephens Stakes. Welder has won 18-of-31 races at six furlongs; Nitrous is 2-for-6.

Another two that could upset for the gold are Gold Street and Gold Speed Go. Gold Street was actually on the Kentucky Derby-trail last year, winning the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn by 2-3/4 lengths. He finished more than 23 lengths back in the subsequent Grade 3 Southwest Stakes, however. Gold Speed Go has won two of his last three starts and is 4-for-6 in the winner's circle here.

The allowance race with post position, horse, jockey, trainer, odds:

Gold Street, Ramon Vazquez, Frank Lucarelli, 8-1
Gold Speed Go, Lane Luzzi, Danny Pish, 10-1
United Patriot, Luis Quinonez, Larry Frazee, 20-1
Warrior's Map, Reylu Gutierrez, Karl Broberg, 10-1
Nitrous, Stewart Elliott, Steve Asmussen, 7-5
Welder, David Cabrera, Teri Luneack, 6-5
It Makes Sense, Jose Alvarez, Shawn Davis, 15-1

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Rated R Superstar Gives Caldwell First Governor’s Cup At Remington

Owner Danny Caldwell has won 372 times at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., now, but on Friday night, the Poteau, Okla., native won a race he had never won before – the $175,000 Governor's Cup with Rated R Superstar. The Governor's Cup was the feature event on the opening night of the 2021 Thoroughbred Season at Remington Park.

Caldwell has won the Thoroughbred owners' title 11 times at Remington Park and now can add one of Remington Park's richest races to his trophy case. “I don't have one of those; it's pretty,” Caldwell said as he was presented the trophy.

It was also the first win in the Governor's Cup for jockey Ramon Vazquez and trainer Federico Villafranco.

Caldwell picked up Rated R Superstar for $50,000 in a claim at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., on Jan. 30, a race that the 8-year-old gelding won.

“I knew he was going to be special when he ran great against Silver State,” Caldwell said. “I love these older horses. He had a bad couple of races at Turfway Park and no one else put a claim for him that night (in January) so I was fortunate to get him.”

Since the claim, the Kentucky-bred son of Kodiak Kowboy, out of the Gold Case mare Wicked Wish, has won two races, but it was actually a race in which he ran second that showed his class. About six weeks after being the only owner to put in a claim for Rated R Superstar, Caldwell entered the horse in the $500,000 Essex Handicap at Oaklawn, a spot that appeared a bit ambitious for a horse from a $50,000 claiming race. Rated R Superstar came flying at the end of that 1-1/16th mile race to lose by only a neck to Silver State. All Silver State did this year was win six races in a row, including the Grade 1 Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park and the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap. In Silver State's most recent effort, he finished third in the Whitney at Saratoga to Knicks Go, who is the top American horse in the Breeders' Cup Classic rankings.

In the Governor's Cup, Vazquez had Rated R Superstar dead last in the field of nine coming down the backstretch in the 1-1/8th mile race, about seven lengths back of a tightly packed field. He also had him well off the rail toward the middle of the track to keep him out of trouble.

“I knew the horse was doing great right now,” said Vazquez. “I worked him the other morning. He had a lot in reserve when I finally asked him to run.”

By the top of the stretch, Rated R Superstar and runner-up Plainsman, the 6-5 post-time favorite, were heads apart. The winner prevailed at the wire by a neck at 7-2 odds over Plainsman, who had beaten him by a neck in the $50,000 Rasmussen Stakes at Prairie Meadows, Iowa., on June 4. Trident Hit, also 7-2, was another 1-3/4 lengths back in third.

Rated R Superstar earned $105,000 for the win and paid $9.40 to win, $3.60 to place, and $2.80 to show. He improved his record to 55 starts, nine wins, nine seconds, and eight thirds for $1,173,014. He passed the $1 million mark in earnings this summer.

Running time for the distance was 1:50.30. The interior fractions, set mostly by defending champion Hunka Burning Love (8-1) early, setting up Rated R Superstar's kick to victory were :23.61 for the first quarter-mile, :47.17 at the half-mile, 1:11.18 for three-quarters of a mile and 1:37.03 for the mile.

It was the first race for Rated R Superstar on the dirt at Remington Park after having raced on the turf in the $100,000 Remington Green Stakes over the turf here on Aug. 24, 2018. He finished sixth in that start, 3-1/4 lengths back of winner Turbo Street.

Caldwell won nine owner titles at Remington Park in the past 10 years, losing only in 2019 to End Zone Athletics, trainer/owner Karl Broberg's outfit. Caldwell also won in 2008 and 2010. His top year was 2016 when he won the crown with 50 wins, the most ever by an owner here.

The Opening Weekend at Remington Park continues Saturday, Aug. 21 with the first race at 7:07 pm Central.

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Scott Wells To Retire As President And GM At Remington Park, Lone Star

Remington Park and Lone Star Park president and general manager Scott Wells will retire from his position this fall. Global Gaming Solutions, LLC, owner of Remington Park and Lone Star Park, announced Wells' decision Thursday.

Wells was on staff at Remington Park for three years beginning in 1990 soon after the the Oklahoma City, Okla., track first opened for live racing in 1988. Wells returned to Remington to his present position in 2005 and has directed operations at the track since then. He assumed the role of president and general manager at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, in 2013.

“Scott Wells is an icon in the horse racing industry and a mainstay at Remington Park across parts of four decades,” said Skip Seeley, CEO of Global Gaming Solutions. “His steady guidance and his deep expertise of track operations have been integral to the success of both Remington Park and Lone Star Park in Texas. He helped create Remington Park as a destination in the racing industry and he leaves a legacy of superlative service both to horsemen and racing fans in Oklahoma, across the country and around the world,”

A native Oklahoman, Wells trained Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds for 17 years, including training the winner of the state's first official Thoroughbred race, Ye Song, at Blue Ribbon Downs in 1984. Wells finishes his career with 31 years of racetrack management, managing five racetracks in three countries.

In 1990, Scott became a columnist for the Daily Racing Form. He rose through the ranks as a Remington Park employee through 1992. He then served as assistant general manager at Hollywood Park in California, then general manager of Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico. In 1999, Wells was hired by Lone Star Park to reopen the national racetracks of Mexico and Uruguay, as well as for consulting jobs in other Latin American countries.

With passage of State Question 712 in Oklahoma in November 2004, Wells returned to the United States and became president and general manager of Remington Park, a position he has held for more than 16 years.

Wells says Remington Park is his all-time favorite racetrack. “Through all the accomplishments, the changes and the challenges in racing, working with the Remington Park team has been the highlight of my career. From the hundreds of employees to the thousands of customers and people involved directly in the horse business, I have been blessed with friendships which will last a lifetime.

“I am eternally grateful for the leadership of Global Gaming Solutions and the Chickasaw Nation for entrusting me with the reins of both Remington Park and Lone Star Park. For me it has been a constant labor of love and there's no denying I will feel a special pang of remorse when I hand off that final trophy for the Springboard Mile on December 17. However, I know the traditions of excellence started by that initial leadership group of 1988 will continue long after I have moved on.”

Wells will remain in his position through the end of the Remington Park Thoroughbred meet, which ends December 17, 2021.

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Scott Wells to Retire from Remington and Lone Star

Remington Park and Lone Star Park president and general manager Scott Wells will retire from his position this fall.

Wells was on staff at Remington Park for three years beginning in 1990 soon after the OKC track first opened for live racing in 1988. Wells returned to Remington to his present position in 2005 and has directed operations at the track since then. He assumed the role of president and general manager at Lone Star Park in 2013.

A native Oklahoman, Wells trained Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds for 17 years and finishes his career with 31 years of racetrack management, managing five racetracks in three countries.

“Through all the accomplishments, the changes and the challenges in racing, working with the Remington Park team has been the highlight of my career,” Wells said. “From the hundreds of employees to the thousands of customers and people involved directly in the horse business, I have been blessed with friendships which will last a lifetime.

“I am eternally grateful for the leadership of Global Gaming Solutions and the Chickasaw Nation for entrusting me with the reins of both Remington Park and Lone Star Park. For me it has been a constant labor of love and there's no denying I will feel a special pang of remorse when I hand off that final trophy for the Springboard Mile on Dec. 17. However, I know the traditions of excellence started by that initial leadership group of 1988 will continue long after I have moved on.”

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