O DONOVAN ROSSA PROVES ONCE AGAIN HE IS VIRTUALLY UNBEATABLE AROUND THE TURN AT REMINGTON PARK, WINNING DISTANCE CHALLENGE

The reigning distance champion at Remington Park, O Donovan Rossa, proved Sunday that he might just be set to claim that title again this year. Sunday he won the Grade 2, $35,156 Q-Racing Video Remington Park Distance Challenge at 870 yards.

It was a short, but talented bunch of five horses that tried the hook in the first stakes race at that distance this meet and O Donovan Rossa showed them how the cow ate the cabbage in the final strides of the race. The 7-year-old Oklahoma-bred gelding had his work cut out for him as the longest shot in the shortest field gave him fits to the wire.

O Donovan Rossa, a son of Apollitical Jess, out of the Country Chicks Man mare Shanachee, held on by a half-length in the end as Invincible Streak (11-1) fought to the end. He finished another neck in front of Wynnchester (3-1), who was making his first start around the hook. Rock Ya Later (9-5 second betting favorite) was another half-length back in fourth, but 12-1/4 lengths ahead of Markus Aurelius (8-1), who blew the turn from the 5-hole.

It didn’t appear that the veteran horse of the hook set had lost a step. It gave his mature co-owner Lloyd Yother of Kelly Yother Equine reason to smile.

“The old man has still got it,” Yother said of O Donovan Rossa. “He is kind of like me, long in the tooth.”

Leading trainer Dee Keener said O Donovan Rossa loves this track and that he didn’t think he needed a warmup race like he used last year. O Donovan Rossa ran in the straightaway 550-yard Grade 2, $50,000 SLM Big Daddy Stakes last year before winning this same Distance Challenge in his second 2024 out by 1-1/2 lengths. Oddly enough, last year’s exacta (first and second horses) were exactly the same. Invincible Streak was the runner-up last year, also, but was sent off at a more respectable 8-1 odds. Last year’s $2 exacta paid $18.80 and this year’s was worth $31.80.

Cruz rode O Donovan Rossa to both victories and explained his successful ride after Sunday’s win.

“He got settled in and we just waited for the gate to open,” said Cruz. “I thought that 1-horse (Wynnchester) might give us some trouble. I didn’t go with him (on the lead). I wanted to just sit a half off of him so I wouldn’t get stuck behind him. Then I let (O Donovan Rossa) tell me when it was time to go. And I just let him go!”

O Donovan Rossa, bred by co-owner J. Garvan Kelly of Broken Arrow, Okla., stopped the timer in :45.069 for a speed-index of 99 over the muddy track. It was the second win in as many years in this series for all connections.

O Donovan Rossa was sent off as the prohibitive favorite at 6-5 and returned $4.40 to win, $2.40 to place and $2.20 to show. Last year, he went off 3-5 and paid $3.20 to win, $2.40 to place and $2.10 to show.

O Donovan Rossa earned $18,281 for this victory and improved lifetime to 42 starts, 13 wins, seven seconds and six thirds and a bankroll of $366,964.

Remington Park racing continues next week with a Thursday-Sunday, April 10-13, schedule. First post time is 6 p.m. CDT nightly with the exception of Sunday when the first race goes off at 4 p.m.

Remington Park has provided more than $377 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 American Quarter Horse Season, features the $868,455 Remington Park Futurity on Saturday, April 19. 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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