TRAINER EDDIE WILLIS SETS BAR HIGH IN FIRST TRAINING RACE, HES GRANDIOSE HAS TOP TIME AMONG 2-YEAR-OLD COMPETITORS

It is no surprise when 12-time Remington Park training title champion Eddie Willis has the fastest training race winner. On Wednesday, a 2-year-old American Quarter Horse from his barn at Remington Park was the swiftest of all the juvenile non-starters.

Willis sent out Hes Grandiose for the first of eight schooling races on the day and the 2-year-old Quarter Horse son of Hes Relentless, out of the Corona Cartel mare Aqua Girl, put up a time that no other juvenile Quarter Horse would challenge the rest of the day. Hes Grandiose broke from the 7-post position under jockey Justine Klaiber and stopped the timer for 250 yards in :13.879 over a fast track. That was good for a speed index of 68.

Klaiber jumped out of the gate in a hurry aboard Hes Grandiose, owned by the Wishbone Partnership, and she nosed out Tyger King in a photo finish. Tyger King hit the wire in :13.887 seconds, only eight-thousands of a second slower than the winner.

Hes Relentless, who stands at Bob Moore Farms in Norman, Okla., for a $7,000 stud fee, according to stallionesearch.com, finished 17th in the country last year as a sire of 2-year-olds. A couple of his top runners have been Hes Innocent, winner of the Grade 2 Firecracker Futurity and the Grade 3 Firecracker Derby at Delta Downs in 2020 and 2021; and Relentlessly, who won the Grade 2 Heritage Place Derby here at Remington Park in 2021. Hes Relentless’ 2-year-old progeny last year earned $832,296.

The actual fastest time of the day came from a 3-year-old Quarter Horse filly named SS Fancy Wagon from trainer Sammy Valdivia’s barn. She was ridden to victory by jockey Cody Wainscott. SS Fancy Wagon’s time was :13.841 and she received a 70 speed index for that time in the eighth and final training race on Wednesday.

The speeds were held in check Wednesday by a headwind that prevailed, gusting around 25 mph for all the races on a day that was overcast with temperatures in the mid-to-high 60s. In comparison to the fastest times on Wednesday, a Paint named Rammer Jammer, won one race with a speed index of 44.

The other winners on the day (Quarter Horses unless otherwise designated), with their times, speed indexes and trainers were:
Race 2, Livewires Turnpike (Paint), :14.343, 50, Ty Blackwell
Race 3, Flash of Gold, :14.181, 56, Eddie Willis
Race 4, Rammer Jammer (Paint), :14.498, 44, Dee Keener
Race 5, Murphy Goode, :14.043, 62, Trey Wood
Race 6, Marfil (App), :14.262, 53, Jose Ruiz
Race 7, MH Relentless Bird, 13.997, 64, Eddie Lee Willis

Racing at Remington Park this meet is scheduled to run a Thursday-Saturday schedule at 6 p.m. nightly and Sunday at 4 p.m. Special start times include Kentucky Derby Day (May 7) and Preakness Stakes Day (May 21) when Remington Park action begins at Noon. The Champions’ Night program on May 28 will begin at 5pm. All times are Central.

Tracked by more than 167,000 fans on Facebook and 10,600 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $285 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 begins the 2022 American Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa racing season on March 3. Simulcast horse racing featured daily, the casino is always open! Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.

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