THREE WEEKS OF BLISS CONTINUES FOR TRAINER MICHELLE HURDLE AS CHARLIES FURY EXTENDS STABLE’S DOMINANCE IN FEATURE RACES

It had been a tough first half of the Remington Park meet for the barn of trainer Michelle Hurdle. Then the barn came alive three weeks ago and hasn’t cooled down since.

Those gossiping about the slow start should not have poked the bear. Charlies Fury won his second feature race in a row since April 17, taking the Grade 2, $55,680 Bob Moore Memorial Stakes that night and then the allowance-optional claiming $50,000 race Thursday night. After Charlies Fury won the Bob Moore Memorial Stakes, his stablemate and half-brother Jess My Hocks kept the barn en fuego by giving Hurdle her first Grade 1 win in the $104,800 Leo Stakes on May 1. If that isn’t enough, she also won with a first-time starter, Termination Dust, at 12-1 odds the same day Jess My Hocks won the Leo.

On Thursday night, Charlies Fury broke from the gate like a NASA rocket and was a length ahead of the field before they were even 50 yards down the track in this 330-yard race for 3-year-olds-and-older that had not won two races other than maiden, claiming, starter or trial in 2021. The big red gelded son of Furyofthewind, Charlies Fury is from the same dam (mama) of Jess My Hocks – Jess Charlena. The latter’s sire is Kiss My Hocks.

The conditions of Thursday’s race, that carried a purse of $25,150, fit Charlies Fury perfectly and his backers agreed, sending him off as the heavy betting favorite 3-5 odds. He won like an odds-on favorite is supposed to, by 1-1/4 lengths with jockey Agustin Silva wrapping up on him the last 100 yards of the race. Charlie needed no urging as he hit the wire in front by daylight in a time of :16.593 over the fast track. The clocking was just 27-hundredths of a second off the track record of :16.323 set by Pure D Spit on April 10, 2014.

Charlies Fury earned $15,266 for his owners Tom and Kathleen McNally of Guthrie, Okla., and improved his record to 22 starts, eight wins, seven seconds and four thirds for a lifetime bankroll of $330,027. Juice is Loose (10-1) got up for second and was three-quarters of a length ahead of third-place finisher Chicks With Coronas (13-1). The second and third favorites, BV Sheslikethewind (3-1) and Jesse D (4-1) were next-to-last and last.

Charlies Fury paid $3.20 to win, $2.60 to place and $2.10 to show. He has now won 6-of-13 starts at Remington Park with $166,481 in earnings over this Oklahoma City racing surface. He is a home-bred for the owners.

Live racing continues this week with a Friday-Sunday schedule, May 7-9, with the first post nightly at 6pm-Central. Important trials are on tap for the Grade 1 Heritage Place Futurity on Friday and Saturday. Then Sunday, trials for the Grade 2 Heritage Place Derby will be contested.

Tracked by more than 165,000 fans on Facebook and 10,400 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $260 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 to the $1 million Heritage Place Futurity on May 29. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.

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