JOCKEY JOSE ORTIZ TIMES IT PERFECTLY WITH GIGANTE, COMING FROM LAST TO FIRST TO WIN REMINGTON GREEN

Jockey Jose Ortiz patiently sat at the back of the pack aboard Gigante in the $75,000 Remington Green Stakes on Sunday. When the field of five horses bunched up in the turn for home, he made his move on the outside to give trainer Steve Asmussen his fourth win in this series.

Gigante, a 5-year-old Virginia-bred horse by Not This Time, out of the Empire Maker mare Summertime Green, responded four wide and swallowed his competitors to get to the wire in front by one length as the 4-5 betting favorite. He covered the 1-1/8 miles on the firm turf in 1:47.84.

It was the first win in the Remington Green for the team of owners of L and N Racing (Michael Levinson) and Clark Brewster of Tulsa, Okla., although Brewster had won this race twice before as a sole owner with a couple of horses trained by Asmussen. The nation’s current number two by money earned and all-time winningest trainer in North American racing history, Asmussen had winners for Brewster in 2017 and 2018 when Turbo Street won the Remington Green back to back. Asmussen’s first win in the Remington Green came in 2013 with Daddy Nose Best. Ortiz won for the first time in the series.

Gigante earned $45,000 from the purse and improved lifetime to 27 starts, nine wins, three seconds and two thirds for $1,340,032.

Gigante originally was purchased from the Keeneland Association Yearling Sale in 2021 for $120,000 by Andrew Dean. When Gigante was pinhooked in the Fasig Tipton Late January Digital Sale of 2025 for horses of racing age, Brewster and L and N stepped in and bought him for $610,000. Gigante was bred by Ann Mudge Backer and Smitten Farm.

Spoiler (8-1) picked up the pieces in second, a whopping 6-3/4 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Ocelot (4-1). Sugoi (9-5 second favorite) was fourth and Mor Victory (20-1), who set the pace early was fifth. Gigante cut into the early fractions of :23.55 for the first quarter-mile, :48.03 for the half-mile, 1:11.45 for six furlongs. He then had the lead at the mile in 1:36.00.

Remington Park racing moves into October with a four-date race week, Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 2-5. The first race nightly is at 6pm. Sunday racing on Oct. 5 begins at 2pm. All times are Central.

Remington Park has provided more than $390 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 presents year-round simulcast racing and casino gaming. The 2025 Oklahoma Classics Night of stakes racing for top Oklahoma-breds is Friday, Oct. 17. The Thoroughbred Season continues through Dec. 20. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.

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