LONGSHOTS RULE IN FEATURED ALLOWANCE FULL FIELD OF 14 AS AMERICAN COALMINER GAINS UPSET WIN

Thirteen fillies and one mare went to post in the featured allowance race at Remington Park on Thursday night. When 14 go in the gate strange things often happen. This was no exception.

The top two finishers, American Coalminer, the No. 14 horse, and Peek Factor, the No. 11, were double-digits in post positions and double-digits on the toteboard. The winner, American Coalminer was sent off at 10-1 odds and Peek Factor was totally ignored at 54-1 odds.

American Coalminer, a 3-year-old daughter of American Freedom (Pulpit), from the Successful Appeal mare Song to the Moon, had shown a lot of promise in morning workouts at Remington Park and in breaking her maiden at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa. Two races back on Aug. 7 in Iowa, under jockey Walter De La Cruz, she drew off to win by 8-1/2 lengths in a one-mile race, going wire-to-wire. So, when she came to Remington Park there were high hopes. Trainer Joe Offolter gave a leg up to veteran rider Luis Quinonez in her first start here on Sept. 3 in a first-level allowance race for fillies and mares and she showed good speed but faded to sixth, losing by 10 lengths.

Still, American Coalminer showed she is not the kind of filly to give up, working a bullet half mile on Sept. 21, covering the distance in :47.89, the fastest work of 31 horses that tried a half-mile that morning. Now her only question mark was whether she was a morning glory that would fade into oblivion at night time in her second race over the Oklahoma City surface.

Offolter turned her back from 1 mile-70 yards in her first attempt at Remington Park to a 6-1/2-furlong sprint and changed riders to another veteran Richard Eramia. The new formula worked wonders. Eramia kept American Coalminer off the lead in this sprint, but pressed the pace early in third. When front-runners JJ’s American Diva and Princedreamcess, the 2-1 wagering favorite, stopped, American Coalminer took over and had to hold off the late run of Peek Factor. That 54-1 bomber, interestingly enough, was ridden by Quinonez. She came from 13th in the early going and passed everyone but the winner.

American Coalminer paid $23 to win, $13.60 to place and $6.20 to show. Peek Factor returned $37.20 to place and $19.60 to show. The two longshots combined to pay their benefactors $853.40 in the $2 exacta. The 50-cent trifecta with Constitution Lady (4-1) checking in third, 1-3/4 lengths back of the runner-up, was worth $1,164.60. The 10-cent superfecta with Tiffany Twist (17-1) fourth was a whopping $6,509.59.

Her running time for the 6-1/2 furlongs was 1:18.14 over the fast track. The pacesetters setting it up for her hit the early poles in :21.99 for the first quarter-mile, :45.40 for the half-mile and 1:11.28 for three-quarters. American Coalminer was bred in Kentucky by Charles Kidder and Nancy Cole.

American Coalminer, coincidentally a winner the same week that the Coalminer’s Daughter, Loretta Lynn, Queen of Country music passed away, earned $19,941 from the $34,000 purse for owner Bryan Hawk of Shawnee, Okla. She improved her record to six starts, two wins and two seconds for a bankroll of $52,236. American Coalminer was bred in Kentucky by Charles Kidder and Nancy Cole.

Live racing at Remington Park continues Friday and Saturday, Oct. 7 & 8. First post time is 7:07 p.m. nightly.

Tracked by more than 171,000 fans on Facebook and 10,600 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $301 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 the top Oklahoma-breds in racing on Oklahoma Classics Night, a million-dollar evening of stakes events on Friday, October 21. Thoroughbred racing continues through December 17 with simulcast racing daily, and a casino that is always open! Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.

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