COUNTRY DAISY UPSETS FIELD IN FEATURED ALLOWANCE TURF RACE, BEATING STAKES WINNERS IN PROCESS

Country Daisy was facing fillies and mares with stakes wins under their belts on the grass and she had only raced once on the turf her entire career. It didn’t matter.

The 5-year-old mare made her second race greensward Wednesday a winning one as she was sent off at 14-1 odds and still beat two past winners of the $70,000 Bob Barry Memorial Stakes – Alternative Slew in 2019 and Hawaiian Typhoon in 2020. This Oklahoma-bred allowance race won by Country Daisy is considered a prep race for the Bob Barry, a 7-1/2 furlong sprint over the grass scheduled for Oklahoma-bred females on Friday, Sept. 24.

Country Daisy, a daughter of Country Day, out of the Holy Bull mare Holy Molly, had not raced on the grass since Feb. 15, 2020 at Sam Houston Race Park where she finished fifth, beaten 8-1/2 lengths. Jockey Leandro Goncalves rode the chestnut mare perfectly, sitting mid-pack the first half of the race and pouncing on the front-runners down the lane to pull off by 2-1/4 lengths at the wire, winning in a sharp time of 1:30.09 over the firm going. The final time was just .04 seconds off the course mark for the about 7-1/2 furlongs distance.

Hawaiian Typhoon and Casino Queen hooked up on the front end early, setting fractions of :23.29 seconds for the first quarter-mile, :46.42 for the half-mile, and 1:11.40 for three-quarters of a mile. It was down the stretch that Country Daisy and She’s All Wolfe (5-2) came flying to finish 1-2 in the race. Alternative Slew, the even-money favorite, ran third, finishing 2-3/4 lengths behind She’s All Wolfe.

Hawaiian Typhoon, Alternative Slew, Casino Queen, and She’s All Wolfe were all stakes winners, but only the first two of those horses had stakes triumphs on grass. Country Daisy was a two-time stakes winner, but her two black-type wins came at smaller tracks on the dirt. She had won the $47,000 Muscogee Creek Nation Stakes at six furlongs on the dirt bull ring at Fair Meadows in Tulsa, Okla., on July 20, 2020, and the $55,000 Miranda Diane Stakes at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla., at six furlongs on the dirt April 27, 2020.

Country Daisy won for owners David and Tammie Bay of Shattuck, Okla., and trainer Ray Ashford. She earned $28,347 from the $49,000 allowance purse on Wednesday and improved her record to 24 starts, seven wins, six seconds, and one third and a bankroll of $228,204. She was bred by the owners’ Bay Ranch in Oklahoma.

She paid $31.20 to win, $11 to place and $3.20 to show across the board to her backers.

Gutierrez Triples
There possibly was only one other person happier than the connections of Country Daisy on Wednesday night and that would be jockey Reylu Gutierrez. The up-and-coming rider had been highly touted entering his first race meet at Remington Park, but had started the meet on an 0-for-25 streak. That all ended Wednesday night as Gutierrez had a riding triple, winning the fourth, fifth and seventh races, all for different trainers. He found the winner’s circle in the fourth with trainer Karl Broberg’s Imaginary Music ($3.20 to win), the fifth with Shirley’s Temple ($9.40) for Mindy Willis and the seventh with Cant Be Touched ($4.80) for Bret Calhoun.

Gutierrez moved from zero wins to a tie for fifth place in the jockeys’ standings, only one win out of third place. David Cabrera leads the way with eight wins, followed by Goncalves at six. Jose Alvarez and Stewart Elliott are deadlocked in third with four wins each. Gutierrez is tied with Iram Diego and Ramon Vazquez.

Racing continues this week Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 2-4, with first race each night at 7:07pm-Central.

Tracked by more than 167,000 fans on Facebook and 10,400 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $269 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 features live and simulcast horse racing, and the casino is always open! The Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby and Grade 3 Remington Park Oaks will take place on Sunday, Sept. 26. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.

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