For the second year in a row, Deal Driven, a stakes winner at Parx in Philadelphia is shipping in from the East Coast to try his wares in the $175,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup on Friday, Oct. 16 at Remington Park.
In 2019, now-retired millionaire Shotgun Kowboy, a four-time winner of the Oklahoma Classics Cup, easily put Deal Driven away. This year, Deal Driven has been made the second choice in the morning-line at 5-2 odds, behind only Rowdy Yates who is the 2-1 favorite. Remington Park odds-maker Jerry Shottenkirk established the latter at the top of the line, based off his multiple stakes wins at this Oklahoma City track. Rowdy Yates won the Oklahoma Classics Juvenile last year and then followed that with a victory in the Don McNeill Stakes here.
Rowdy Yates, a 3-year-old colt by Morning Line, out of the Yes It's True mare Spring Station, is the top earner in the field with $346,556 in his bankroll, just barely more than Deal Driven at $342,896. Deal Driven, a 6-year-old gelded son of the hottest sire in the country this year – Into Mischief – comes from the Tiznow mare Tiz Merry. Deal Driven won the $60,000 Parx Hall of Fame Handicap on Sept. 14, 2019.
Deal Driven could do no better than fifth in the Classics Cup last year, beaten 20-1/4 lengths by Shotgun Kowboy, who holds the record for winning the race four times. Shotgun Kowboy took the trophy in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019, for owner-trainer C.R. Trout of Edmond. Shotgun Kowboy also is one of two horses to have won this race three years in a row. The other was Mr. Ross from 1999-2001. Zee Oh Six won three times but not in consecutive years.
Fifteen-time Remington Park top trainer Steve Asmussen, and the country's top conditioner by money earned, campaigns Rowdy Yates. That colt, owned by L and N Racing of Tulsa, Okla., is coming off a sixth-place finish in the Grade 3, $200,000 Oklahoma Derby here on Sept. 27 at 1-1/8th miles. Deal Driven last raced Sept. 10 at Laurel, running second in an allowance-optional $50,000 claiming race at seven furlongs. The Oklahoma Classics Cup is raced at 1-1/16th miles. Jockey Stewart Elliott gets the call on Rowdy Yates, while Ramon Vazquez is aboard Deal Driven for trainer Robert Mosco and owner Troy Johnson and Charles Lo of Vacaville, Calif.
Trout will try to keep his winning streak alive in the cup with Fast Breakin Cash at 5-1 odds. His resume is blackened with excellent efforts in stakes-company, running second in the $75,000 Kip Deville and $100,000 Oklahoma Classics Juvenile in 2018, and the $70,000 Jim Thorpe Stakes in 2019. All those races were over the Remington Park surface. Fast Breaking Cash finished third behind two-time Oklahoma Horse of the Year, Welder, in last year's $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Sprint.
Here's a look at Classics Cup field of eight, from the rail out with jockey, trainer and morning-line odds:
1) Dont Tell Noobody: Sophie Doyle, Federico Villafranco, 15-1
2) Georgia Deputy: Ezequiel Lara, Joe Petalino, 20-1
3) United Patriot: Lori Biehler, Michael Biehler, 10-1
4) Rowdy Yates: Stewart Elliott, Steve Asmussen, 2-1
5) Fast Breakin Cash: Luis Quinonez, C.R. Trout, 5-1
6) Dak Da Man: Lane Luzzi, Kari Craddock, 6-1
7) Kwik: David Cabrera, Karl Broberg, 10-1
8) Deal Driven: Ramon Vazquez, Robert Mosco, 5-2
Remington Park racing continues Saturday, Oct. 10, with nine races underway at 7:07pm-Central.
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