TRAINER DANNY PISH HAD HIS OWNERS CONFUSED, BUT THEY WERE HAPPY AFTER ESSENTIAL TIME WON CLEVER TREVOR STAKES

Trainer Danny Pish had to laugh after his 2-year-old trainee Essential Time, a maiden second-time starter, won for the first time in the $150,000 Clever Trevor Stakes on Sunday at Remington Park.

Pish got a kick out of it because he had his owners bouncing back and forth like a ball and a paddle.

“I never expect anything, but I knew it was possible that he could win this thing,” Pish said. After all, it was the second year in a row he had won the Clever Trevor for 2-year-olds on the dirt at 6-1/2 furlongs. Last year’s winner was Jolly Samurai.

The owners of Essential Time, a Kentucky-bred gelded son of Essential Quality, from the Twirling Candy mare Twilight Curfew, are Duffy’s Racing Stable and Heider Racing Stables of Frisco, Texas. They were scratching their heads over Pish’s advice after Essential Time had run second in a maiden race to Canned Heat on Sept. 6 at Remington Park.

“I tell my clients, ‘Keep expectations down; keep expectations down.’” Pish said. “So, they said to me, ‘So we’re going to put him in another maiden race then.’ I said, ‘No, we’re going in the stakes race.”

The connections of the horse then came back with, “Well, that’s totally opposite of what you always tell us.”

Pish did indeed enter Essential Time in the Clever Trevor and gave Iram Diego a leg up and it was one of the more impressive rides on this Oklahoma Derby undercard. Diego took this young gelding back to last in a nine-horse field and waited. After a half mile, he was still eighth while his competitors battled up front for the lead into the stretch. Diego made his move on the turn for home and was third at the top of the lane. Diego found himself between horses and it was on. He squeezed through a small gap between rivals then pulled away to win by 1-1/4 lengths. Essential Time just got past the runner-up, Canned Heat, for the victory, the same horse that had beaten him in the maiden race.

“We got hit with a lot of dirt,” said Diego. “I was just hoping we would get there. With about a sixteenth (of a mile) to go, I thought we were good.”

Both first- and second-place horses went off at boxcar double-figures. Essential Time was at 12-1 odds and Canned Heat was 19-1. They both finished ahead of even-money favorite, Fuel, who ran third, three-quarters of a length behind Canned Heat.

The winner’s time for 6-1/2 furlongs was 1:18.16 over the fast surface. Essential Time came from last through early fractions of :21.69 for the first quarter,-mile set by front-running Rooster J, who faded late. The half-mile mark was :45.08, followed by 1:11.43 for three quarters of a mile.

Essential Time paid $26.20 to win, $11.60 to place and $5 to show. The $2 exacta was worth $226.80.

The remaining order of finish in the Clever Trevor was Stretch (2-1) fourth, Rooster J (11-1) fifth, Express Kid (6-1) sixth, Lexi’s Comeback (42-1) seventh, Old Money (29-1) eighth and Two Steves (37-1) ninth and last.

Essential Time was bred by D.J. Stable. Duffy’s Racing Stable purchased him for $36,000 at the Keeneland Association September Yearling Sale of 2024. The owners tried to sell him this year at the Ocala Breeders’ Spring Sale of 2-year-olds-in-training, but their reserve price of $70,000 was not met. They are pretty happy it wasn’t. He earned $90,000 Sunday night and now has $97,532 in his bankroll with a sparkling future ahead.

The Clever Trevor Stakes is named after the great Oklahoma-bred who was the winner of the first Oklahoma Derby (1989) at Remington Park. Clever Trevor went on to become a millionaire in a career that ended in 1992. The gelding lived to age 30, passing in 2016 at Robin’s Nest Farm in Piedmont, Okla.

Remington Park racing moves into October with a four-date race week, Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 2-5. The first race nightly is at 6pm. Sunday racing on Oct. 5 begins at 2pm. All times are Central.

Remington Park has provided more than $390 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 Oklahoma Classics Night of stakes racing for top Oklahoma-breds is Friday, Oct. 17. The Thoroughbred Season continues through Dec. 20. 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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