JOCKEYS STEWART ELLIOTT, HARRY HERNANDEZ RED HOT WITH THREE WINS APIECE FRIDAY AT REMINGTON PARK
Despite coming off an injury-filled spring and a couple of months off from a cracked tailbone, leading rider Stewart Elliott has taken up this meet where he left off last year when he won his first Pat Steinberg trophy at Remington Park as the season’s leading jockey. Both he and rider Harry Hernandez scored riding triples on the Friday night card.
Elliott, who won the Kentucky Derby in 2004 with Smarty Jones, continued to be blistering hot in Oklahoma City. Elliott dead-heated in the first race with his mount, Send Off ($4.20 to win), hitting the wire at the same time as Searchin Safari. Nonetheless he is credited with a full win for that and had two more victories almost immediately.
His trip to the winner’s circle with Send Off was for owner-trainer Sarah Davidson, who scored twice on the card. Send Off is an Oklahoma-bred 3-year-old gelding by Saturday Launch from the Langfuhr broodmare Serafina Song.
Yvonne’s Miss ($4.80) carried Elliott to victory in the fourth race for Davidson again. Carlton Blake Sanders of Katy, Texas, owns that California-bred 4-year-old filly by Bucchero, out of the Posse mare Deputy Miss.
Elliott’s third victorious horse was in the fifth race for Steve Asmussen and he did it easily with the heavy favorite, Smackdown ($2.40), in wire-to-wire fashion. Clark Brewster of Tulsa, Okla., owns that 3-year-old Kentucky-bred gelded son of More than Ready, out of the Quality Road mare Road of Honor.
Elliott won last year’s jockeys’ race at Remington Park in almost a walkover, drawing off by the length of the stretch with 74 wins to runner-up Lindey Wade’s 45. This year’s meet is beginning to have that kind of shine to it for him. His three wins Friday gave him 14 for the meet and a seven-win lead over second-place jockeys Hernandez and Jose Alvarez in the standings, with seven each for the meet.
Hernandez’s three horses that took him to the winner’s circle were Mo Saturdays ($2.60) in the second for trainer Abel Ramirez-Rodriguez and owner End Zone Athletics (Karl Broberg); R Doc ($4.80) in the third, Danelle Durham and owner Vinney Pigue of Ooltewah, Tenn., and General Shipman ($8.80) in the seventh for Steve Asmussen.
Mo Saturdays is a Kentucky-bred 4-year-old gelding by Mo Town from the Seeking the Dia mare Mighty Katherine. His win was the third of his career.
R Doc came home in front for the fourth time in his career. The 5-year-old gelding is by Gio Ponti from the Street Sense mare Pedestrian.
The third Hernandez winner, General Shipman, is a 3-year-old gelding by Midshipman from the Into Mischief mare Impish. General Shipman won for the third time in seven career starts.
The odd thing about Elliott and Hernandez having simultaneous strong starts to this meet is that Hernandez also was knocked out of action at Lone Star Park this spring and was the leading rider there when he was injured. He missed the remainder of the meet with a collapsed lung and four broken ribs incurred in his accident.
Remington Park racing continues Saturday, Aug. 31 with first post time of 6:30 p.m. -Central.
Remington Park has provided more than $357 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 simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. The 2024 Thoroughbred Season continues through Dec. 13. The Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby takes place on Sunday, Sept. 29. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
-30-