JOHAN ZOFFANI WINS FOR SECOND TIME THIS MEET, TAKING FEATURED ALLOWANCE RACE ON GRASS
Johan Zoffani (Ire) has become quite the turf specialist at 1-1/16th miles. The 4-year-old gelding has now tried the distance five times and won four of those on the lawn, including the feature race at Remington Park on Tuesday.
The gelded son of Zoffany (IRE), out of the Hard Spun mare Plying, won his first start of the meet on Oct. 9 at 1-1/16th miles with $15,000 claimers that had not won three races lifetime. Lindy Wade rode the winner that night for trainer Robertino Diodoro. Johan Zoffani was claimed that evening by trainer Mindy Willis for $15,000 for new owners Jeffry and Julie Puryear of Denton, Texas. He ran third at 7-1/2 furlongs on the grass last time out on Nov. 6, but returning to his preferred distance, he made it back to the winner’s circle.
Jockey Alfredo Triana, who had a riding triple on Tuesday, was in the boot for the 1-3/4 lengths victory at 3-1 odds for Willis. The Puryears pocketed $20,196 from the $34,000 purse and their new acquisition improved to 17 starts, four wins, six seconds and four thirds for $86,301 in earnings. All four of those wins have come at 1-1/16th miles on the grass. He was bred in Ireland by Churchtown House Stud. It was the second day in a row at Remington Park that a foreign-bred horse has won the feature race. On Monday, the winning horse was Say Hey, a French-bred mare.
Triana set his mount down in fourth place down the backstretch as Champs Success and Half Ours to Keep battled for the lead. By the time horses entered the lane, Johan Zoffani was a half-length in front and headed to another win. He paid $8.60 to win, $4.80 to place and $2.80 to show. Venture Forth (5-1) held on for second, a half-length ahead of a fast-closing Old Sot (2-1 favorite) who was caught in a switch on the rail with nowhere to go in the late going. Leading rider David Cabrera finally found room, pulling Old Sot out wide, but by then he had lost all momentum and Johan Zoffani was not backing up.
Johann Zoffani cut into early fractions of :24.87 for the first quarter-mile, :49.81 for the half-mile and 1:13.88 for three-quarters of a mile before he took control. He hit the mile marker in 1:38.04 and finished the race with a winning time of 1:44.22 over the firm turf.
Triana’s win was the third of the day in only six mounts on the day. He also won with Theycallherpinky ($6.80 to win) in the first race and Tasmin ($5.40) in the fifth.
Luzzi Reaches 500 Wins
Another rider with a big win Tuesday was Lane Luzzi. When Luzzi hit the wire first aboard Victory Boulevard ($9.60) in the sixth race, it was his 500th career win. Luzzi began his North American riding career in 2015 when he won nine times from 52 mounts. He won his first race at Laurel Park aboard Flo’s Strawberry. Luzzi is the son of multiple Grade 1-winning jockey Mike Luzzi, who has made a name for himself on the East Coast, primarily on the New York circuit.
Remington Park racing continues Friday and Saturday, Nov. 19-20 with the first event each night at 7:07pm. Monday and Tuesday afternoon racing continues on Nov. 22-23 with the first race on those dates at 2:30pm. All times are Central.
Tracked by more than 167,000 fans on Facebook and 10,500 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $278 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 home for the $400,000 Springboard Mile on Friday, Dec. 17. Simulcast horse racing featured daily, the casino is always open! Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
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