OLD TRAFFORD PULLS OFF MINOR UPSET IN FEATURED ALLOWANCE RACE AS JOCKEY LEANDRO GONCALVES STAYS HOT

Jockey Leandro Goncalves continued his hot streak with a pair of wins on Saturday night, including a minor upset aboard Old Trafford in the featured allowance race at Remington Park.

Goncalves moved into second place in the jockeys’ standings after the first four days of racing, only one win behind three-time defending champion here, David Cabrera. Cabrera also had two wins on the nine-race card Saturday. Cabrera has six wins after two weeks to Goncalves’ five. Jose Alvarez and Stewart Elliott are knotted in third with four trips to the winner’s circle. Five riders are locked in fifth together with two wins apiece.

Trafford, at 7-1 odds, won the $34,000 allowance feature as Goncalves guided the 4-year-old gelding to the victory, sitting just off the pacesetters and then surging down the stretch of the six-furlongs sprint. When this son of Bayern, out of the War Front mare Tres Belle, pounced, he did it decisively, drawing off to a 4-1/2 lengths win. Goncalves tracked Red N Wild (9-5 favorite) and Revival (20-1) in the early going as they set fractions of :22.66 for the first quarter-mile and :46 for the half-mile. By the time the horses had passed 5-8ths of a mile in :57.94, Trafford had taken over and continued to stretch out the winning margin. The winner stopped the timer in 1:10.33 over a fast track.

Red N Wild held on for second, a length ahead of third-place finisher Give It Everything (5-1).

Old Trafford earned $20,247 from the $34,000 purse and improved to 17 starts, five wins, three seconds and two thirds for a bankroll of $86,243. The win Saturday night put trainer J.R. Caldwell into a tie for second in the trainers’ standings with two wins. C.R. Trout, Dallas Keen, Kenny Nolen, Kari Craddock and Karl Broberg also have two victories. Steve Asmussen is in the lead with four.

Both Caldwell’s wins came Saturday night as he also won, giving Goncalves a leg up on Carpe Eros, in the ninth race.

Old Trafford is owned by Farmers Fillies Racing of Valley View, Texas and was bred in Kentucky by Kaleem Shah, Inc. It was his second win in seven tries at six furlongs and his first win at Remington Park in his debut here. He paid $16.60 to win, $8.60 to place and $4.80 to show to his backers.

Racing continues next week with the track’s first Wednesday-Saturday schedule, Sept. 1-4. The first race Wednesday night is set for 7 p.m.-central.

Tracked by more than 167,000 fans on Facebook and 10,400 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $269 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 live and simulcast horse racing, and the casino is always open! The Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby headlines a stellar program on the lone Sunday of the season, Sept. 26. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.

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