UNRESTRICTED SHOWS GREAT LATE KICK TO WIN TURF FEATURE AT REMINGTON PARK
Sometimes when your trainer is one of the hottest on the grounds it doesn’t matter what your odds are and Unrestricted proved that Wednesday night, winning the optional-allowance feature over the Remington Park turf.
With the win, Marissa Black moved up to fourth in the training standings and pocketed $11,694 for the victory, just a few dollars less than the $15,000 she claimed the 6-year-old gelding for in his last race. Black also owns this gelding now. Unrestricted was basically dismissed at his 18-1 odds, but he proved them wrong with his strong kick down the lane as he passed four other horses to get to the finish line first by a head.
Unrestricted, a gelded son of Bind (Pulpit), out of the Sligo Bay (IRE) mare Fairyland Lustre, moved from mid-pack in fifth to stalk well off the pace set by front-runners Englander and Sarcastic tone, who finished 8th and 11th after their early speed duel. All that did was set it up perfectly for Unrestricted. The early fractions were :23.28 for the first quarter-mile of the 1-1/16th mile race on the lawn, followed by :46:49 for the half-mile, 1:10.20 for three-quarters of a mile and 1:35.39 for the mile. The pacesetters had begun to fade by then and the closers were kicking in. Bizzy Legs, Fred’stwirlincandy and Unrestricted gave it their all in the final 16th of a mile and the winner prevailed over the other two in a time of 1:41.71 on the firm course. Unrestricted, in a photo finish, was a head in front of Fred’stwirlincandy (7-2) and another half-length in front of Bizzy Legs (24-1). Englander (5-2) was the badly beaten favorite.
Black put in a $15,000 claim in Unrestricted’s last race, taking him from leading trainer Karl Broberg’s barn. Broberg has 11 wins this meet, one better than the sport’s all-time winningest trainer Steve Asmussen’s 10. Both got shut out Wednesday night. Bret Calhoun, with one win on the card, moved one closer to Asmussen with nine trips to the winner’s circle. Then a host of trainers are tied in fourth with six wins apiece. Black is tied with Ronnie Cravens III, Kari Craddock and Carlos Padilla for that spot.
With the $11,694 in purse money, Unrestricted improved to 33 starts, eight wins, four seconds and eight thirds for a total career bankroll of $202,958. Jockey Jose Medina, who has been a master on the turf course this meet, rode Unrestricted perfectly. The gelding was bred in Louisiana by Columbine Stable.
Live racing at Remington Park continues this week with racing Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 22-25. First post time is 7:07 p.m. nightly with the exception of Sunday on Oklahoma Derby Day. It is the only Sunday race day of the meet and it begins with a first post of 3 p.m. All times are Central.
Tracked by more than 171,000 fans on Facebook and 10,600 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $301 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 the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby and Grade 3 Remington Park Oaks on Sunday, September 25. Thoroughbred racing continues through December 17 with simulcast racing daily, and a casino that is always open! Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
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