Trainer Bret Calhoun continued his red hot streak Thursday night at Remington Park, getting his fifth winner of the meet from only 16 starters as he took the featured eighth race with Night Strike.
The 3-year-old colt was sent off at 2-1 odds and held off Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Famer Donnie Von Hemel’s late-charging favorite Rowdy The Warrior by a head. Rowdy The Warrior also went off at 2-1, but had slightly more money wagered on him than the winner. Call a Cop at 5-2 got up for third another three lengths back.
Night Strike paid $6.80 to win, $3.40 to place and $2.20 to show across the board. He earned $24,922 from a purse of $43,350, increasing his lifetime bankroll past the $100,000 mark to $119,302. The sophomore Oklahoma-bred son of Liaison, out of the Smart Strike mare Concert Strike has now won 2-of-11 in his career. He covered the 1 mile-70 yards in 1:41.84 seconds over a fast track.
Horsemen’s Standings
In the trainers’ race, National Racing Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen caught leading conditioner Karl Broberg for the lead atop the standings with nine apiece. Asmussen had a training double with jockey Ramon Vazquez aboard both winners… Vazquez posted a riding triple, winning another race on Thursday for trainer Boyd Caster. The hat trick tied Vazquez with Richard Eramia for second place in the jockey standings. They each have nine victories apiece for the meet, two behind top rider David Cabrera with 11.
Tracking the Big-Money Payoffs
After one night free of $1,000 or larger payouts from the exotic wagers, Remington Park once again backed up the money truck and unloaded it to the fans with more huge-dollar payouts. The 50-cent Pick 3 that ended in the sixth race with top horses that paid off at 18-1, 9-1 and 26-1 odds returned $6,481.80 to those who correctly chose the 2-2-1 combination. That is a record payoff for a 50-cent Pick 3 at Remington Park… The big-money bonanza did not conclude there. The 50-cent Pick 3 (2-1-12 combo) that ended with a 20-1 horse in race seven produced a payout of $4,213.05… Thursday night concluded with a Pick 4 that paid out $6,219 on a 50-cent wager (1-12-2-9 combo of horses that went off at 26-1, 20-1, 2-1 and 4-5 odds)… The Remington Park Thoroughbred Season has now had payouts in the exotic wagers exceed the $1,000-mark a total of 31 times in eight race dates.
Remington Park Turf Sprint on Friday Night
Racing continues Friday night with a card of nine races beginning at 7 p.m. Nine horses with $1.5 million in combined earnings have been drawn to go to post in the $70,000-guaranteed Remington Park Turf Sprint Stakes, a 5-furlongs sprint for Oklahoma-breds, 3-year-olds-and-up.
Last year’s $50,000 Silver Goblin Stakes winner, Welder, the 8-5 morning line favorite, will break from the outside post. The 5-year-old gelding from trainer Theresa Luneack’s stable also ran second in the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Sprint at Remington Park in 2017, losing to Eurobond. Since leaving Remington Park, Welder has won the $55,000 TRAO Classic Sprint at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore and lost by a head in the $65,000 Ed Skinner Stakes at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa.
The top money earner in the field is Perfect to Please (2-1 morning-line odds), who has banked $451,576 with 14 wins from 66 lifetime starts. This 8-year-old gelded son of 2003 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Pleasantly Perfect is already a winner out of the barn of trainer Veronica Griggs this meet, taking a $40,000 allowance race on the grass at this same distance. Jockey Bryan McNeil was in the irons for that victory and has the call in Friday’s Remington Park Turf Sprint.
Trainer Kenny Nolen sends out a former National Hall of Famer Bob Baffert-conditioned horse on the West Coast – Serengeti (10-1 morning-line odds). This 3-year-old colt by Algorithms won by 11 lengths in the second race of his career in 2017 at Santa Anita, in a $54,000 maiden special weight race with Hall of Famer Mike Smith in the irons. He was then made the 6-5 favorite in the Grade 2, $200,000 Best Pal Stakes but ran up the track, finishing sixth. He was eventually sent to trainer Chris Hartman’s barn at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Nolen said he got the horse, owned by Foster Racing Stables of Clinton, Okla., from Hartman.
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