MESA MOON KEEPS HIS STREAK AT 7 FURLONGS UNSCATHED WITH HIS SECOND EASY WIN AT THE DISTANCE IN REMINGTON PARK FEATURE

Multiple stakes winner Shannon C was a scratch for trainer Scott Young in the featured allowance race Saturday night, but it didn’t matter as his other top sprinter, Mesa Moon, stayed unbeaten at 7 furlongs with a victory.

The first time this 4-year-old gelded son of Sky Mesa, out of the Smarty Jones mare Creative Spirit, tried 7 furlongs, he won a second-level allowance at Remington Park on Nov. 24, 2020. Under jockey Floyd Wethey, Jr., he cruised home a five-length winner that night. He had not run that distance again until Saturday night when he faced a field laden with stakes winners. It was almost an instant replay of his win last year.

Wethey sat in third place down the backstretch, biding his time. He made his move on the far turn and passed the early front-runners, Euromantic (3-1) and Quality Rocket (9-2). By the time he hit the top of the stretch, Mesa Moon was pulling away with a 1-1/2 length lead. The margin just kept growing to the wire.

Mesa Moon was sent off as the slight 8-5 favorite as he had a tad bit more money bet on him to win than the 8-5 Fast Breakin Cash. That C.R. Trout charge was making his late move from dead last down the lane but his run was too little, too late, finishing a distant second. Fast Breakin Cash was coming off a win in the $70,000 Silver Goblin Stakes at 6-1/2 furlongs when he was able to catch them all on Nov. 12. His runner-up finish on Saturday was a half-length better than Quality Rocket’s run to third.

Shannon C was a vet scratch after running the worst race of his career in the Silver Goblin about three weeks ago, finishing 15 lengths behind Fast Breakin Cash. The 6-year-old gelding had earlier this meet won the $70,000 Remington Park Turf Sprint Stakes on Sept. 3 and the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Sprint Stakes on Oct. 16.

The competitors in Saturday night’s race found out in a hurry that Young is shooting with both barrels. Even though Mesa Moon has never won a stakes race, he beat a few stakes winners in this field. Plus, he had run second to Remington Park’s all-time winningest horse, Welder, in the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Sprint Stakes on Oct. 16, 2020. He lost by four lengths to Welder who won a record 16 races at Remington Park. He repeated that effort with a runner-up run to his stablemate, Shannon C, in this year’s edition of the Classics Sprint.

Mesa Moon earned $28,500 from Saturday’s $49,000 purse for owner Cimarron TTT Farms (Marvin Triplett) of Edmond, Okla. The winner improved his record to 13 starts, five wins, three seconds and two thirds for $186,905 in earnings. A total of $158,103 of that money has been earned at Remington Park. The Oklahoma home-bred cut into early fractions of :23.11 for the first quarter-mile, :46.42 for the half-mile, and had the lead when he completed 6 furlongs in 1:11.87. His final time was 1:25.19 over the fast track. United Patriot (13-1) ran fourth and Euromantic faded to last. He paid $5.20 to win, $3.40 to place and $2.20 to show.

Racing continues next week with a Monday-Tuesday afternoon schedule with first post of 2:30 p.m. each day and then Friday and Saturday night cards that begin at 7:07 p.m. The meet concludes with a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday schedule Dec. 15-17.

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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