TRAINER BOYD ‘JOBE’ CASTER HAS FIRST OFFICIAL WORKOUT OF REMINGTON PARK PRE-SEASON, DANCININTHECOUNTRY GETS BULLET HALF-MILE

Trainer Boyd “Jobe” Caster’s horses dominated the first official workout tab on Wednesday, getting the first bullet workout of the upcoming Remington Park thoroughbred race meet with Dancininthecountry working a half mile.

That 4-year-old Oklahoma-bred filly by Backstabber, out of the Curlin mare Market Wizard, covered the four furlongs in :48.36 under rider Erik McNeil. When she hits the track in an official race at this meet between Aug. 16-Dec. 13, she will be a third-time starter, who broke her maiden at first asking last year at Remington Park on Aug. 19. She ran fifth in her next race at RP among $30,000 claiming fillies and mares that had not won two races in their career. She has been laid up since then. Caster is owner-trainer-breeder for Dancininthecountry.

Her time Wednesday was the fastest time of the day for nine horses that covered a half mile. A total of 11 horses were on the tab Wednesday, two of them working three furlongs. All 11 horses came from Caster’s barn.

“She looked really good working this morning,” said Caster, who makes his home in Jones, Okla., with wife Beth on their farm.

Caster is hoping the Remington Park meet is the start of his year turning around because the first part of 2024 found him living up to his middle name, “Jobe,” that he goes by.

“I was named for the guy in the Bible,” said Caster. Though spelled differently, the Bible character, Job, was known for having gone through unbearable trials and tribulations, much like Caster has recently experienced.

His year started with a family health scare that was frightening.

“Then in April, I’m going over to Oaklawn (in Hot Springs, Ark., through the Ouachita Mountains) and I’m in my truck,” Caster said. “I get to an area in the mountains near Mt. Ida and the highway goes from one lane to two lanes with the slower traffic in the right lane. I’m in that right lane and this guy comes flying around me on the left, and he knocks me off the road. Now I’m doing down the mountain about 130 feet, ping-ponging off trees. The guy doesn’t even stop; just keeps on going. If my back wheel hadn’t been caught on a pine tree, I probably wouldn’t be here. The truck was totaled.”

Things didn’t get any better in May.

“That’s when the tornado hit Will Rogers Downs (in Claremore, Okla.) and wiped it out,” said Caster. “My wife woke me up and hollered, ‘There’s a tornado outside and it’s going to hit us.’ We jumped outside in my truck and were speeding toward the casino where all the people were taking cover, but it hit us. Knocked my truck sideways, blew out the windshield and flattened a tire. About $30,000 in damage. We finally made it to the shelter and were OK.”

Caster said the two RVs that the couple had a WRD were both destroyed in the tornado and their horse trailer was found in bits and pieces about a half-mile from the track. My wife’s car was totaled, too.”

Keep in mind, this was not the first time that Caster has cheated death. In the early 2020s, he was hospitalized for 19 days when he was battling Covid.

“I was diagnosed with double pneumonia,” he said. “I was really supposed to die. My lungs were so full of fluid that I was coughing and hacking with heavy congestion constantly. They gave me so many Lasix shots in the stomach that it looked like someone had beaten me with a baseball bat. But you know what? It’s hard to kill an old racetracker.”

Caster also said one of his favorite horses he has ever trained, Quality Rocket, had to be euthanized last year after battling an infection in his knee. That gelding had won $420,561 for owner Jeremy Ball and was a multiple stakes winner.

So, when it was time to work horses at Remington Park, Caster was almost giddy.

“Excited? Are you kidding?” Caster said. “After all we went through, it means I’m home for the next seven months. Ecstatic.”

One of the reasons Caster is thrilled to see Remington Park getting ready to open for thoroughbreds is that he might just have an Oklahoma Derby horse. That huge Grade 3, $400,000 race for 3-year-olds at 1-1/8 miles is scheduled to run on Sept. 29 here. Caster’s possible is a 3-year-old Oklahoma-bred gelding by Flat Out, from the Ocean Terrace mare Jealous Ellis. Caster trained the dam (mother). He is owned by JT Stables (Joe and Theresa Moore of Tontitown, Ark.) and won the $50,000 Canterbury Derby in Minnesota by six lengths on June 22.

It was the gelding’s third win in as many tries in 2024. He broke his maiden at Will Rogers Downs on April 23 and came right back and won again on May 13 at WRD in allowance company. He has earned $60,022, taking three of his five lifetime starts.

The Moore couple known as JT Stables also own one of the top horses in Caster’s barn – Rowdy Rascal – who also worked at Remington Park this morning. Rowdy Rascal is a 5-year-old gelding that has earned $282,462 in his career. Rowdy Rascal pulled off a huge win last year at Remington Park, winning a state-bred allowance race, beating stakes winners Fly to the Bank, Number One Dude and That’s Something in the process.

Rowdy Rascal is also a stakes winner, taking down the Jim Thorpe Stakes at Remington Park in 2022 and a pair of stakes victories here in 2021 – the Don McNeill Stakes and the Oklahoma Classics Juvenile race.

No one is more pumped about the future than Caster, mostly because the recent past has been a dumpster fire.

“I’m like a cat with nine lives,” he said with a laugh.

Remington Park has provided more than $354 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 simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. The 2024 Thoroughbred Season will begin on August 16. 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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