BROBERG WINS BATTLE OF TOP THREE NATIONAL TRAINERS BY WINS, SCORING GOVERNOR’S CUP WITH HUNKA BURNING LOVE
Hunka Burning Love ran his winning streak on the dirt to five in a row on Opening Night of Remington Park’s 2020 Thoroughbred Season, taking the $75,000 Governor’s Cup for trainer Karl Broberg.
This 6-year-old gelded son of Into Mischief, out of the Thunder Gulch mare Touch of Fire, sat just off the pace of front-runner Pioneer Spirit and then pounced on the far turn to draw off to the easy win for Broberg. He, Steve Asmussen and Robertino Diodoro currently are the top three trainers in the country by number of wins.
Broberg said he told jockey David Cabrera to get to the front and “improve his position.”
Hunka Burning Love won the $75,000 Lone Star Mile in Grand Prairie, Texas, on June 28 for the horse’s fourth consecutive victory on dirt. Broberg then entered him in a turf allowance-optional claiming race a month later. He could only manage fourth place behind winning stablemate Attentive, who also was in the Governor’s Cup. On the dirt, it was a different story.
“I really try to take the path of least resistance,” said Broberg. “I was really thinking about scratching him in the Lone Star Mile because I didn’t think he was good enough.”
It was the first stakes race under Broberg’s tutelage of the horse for owner End Zone Athletics of Mansfield, Texas, of which the trainer is a partner. End Zone Athletics is the defending leading Thoroughbred owner at Remington Park.
“Even though he won this race tonight, I’ll probably look for an allowance race for him to come back in if it will go in the next couple of weeks,” he said. “As for running him on the turf after four wins in a row on the dirt, he is by Into Mischief and some of them have run well on the grass, but you never know until you try. It was just my way of knowing how to end a winning streak.”
Hunka Burning Love was a $32,000 claim by Broberg in April at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. Since the acquisition, Hunka Burning Love has won five races from six attempts.
Hunka Burning Love covered the 1-1/8 miles on the fast surface in 1:48.18 seconds, just .18 seconds off the track record of Classic Cat (1:48) set on Aug. 30, 1998. He finished 6-1/2 lengths ahead of runner-up Lamartine (Brz), who was another three-quarters of a length in front of the defending Governor’s Cup champion, Mocito Rojo, in third place.
Despite his five dirt wins in a row, Hunka Burning Love paid $8.20 to win, $4.60 to place and $3.60 to show. The 2-1 favorite in the race, who was also the favorite in the Lone Star Mile, Pioneer Spirit ran dead last in the nine-horse field after leading the first half mile.
End Zone Athletics earned $45,000 as Hunka Burning Love improved his record to 42 starts, 13 wins, four seconds and six thirds for a lifetime bankroll of $399,180. Hunka Burning Love was bred in Kentucky by Morris B. Floyd and Chuck Givens.
Tracked by more than 164,000 fans on Facebook and more than 10,400 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $246 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, Remington Park is open daily for casino gaming and simulcast horse racing. The 2020 Thoroughbred Season is scheduled for Aug. 21 through Dec. 20. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
-30-