ASHFORD BARN LOADED FOR A BIG SEASON AT REMINGTON PARK, SEEKING SECOND CAREER WIN IN SPRINGBOARD MILE

The spotlight shone brightly on the barn of trainer Ray Ashford in 2022 at Remington Park as Wildatlanticstorm won this track’s cornerstone race for 2-year-olds, the $400,000 Springboard Mile in 2022.

The big red (1,235 pounds as a 2-year-old) Iowa-bred colt was also named Champion Horse of the Meet for Ashford and owner Jim Jorgensen from Iowa. Ashford said there is a slight possibility his now-4-year-old monster could run at Remington Park this meet. Being an Iowa-bred and owned by an Iowa native tends to keep the horse at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa. There is one chance Oklahoma City fans will get to see him up close again, however.

“There is a sprint stakes at Prairie Meadows (on Sept. 28) called the Dan Johnson Sprint Stakes (at six furlongs),” said Ashford, 53, of Moore, Okla. “But horsemen up in Iowa know him pretty well by now and if that race doesn’t fill for him, he could go in the David Vance Stakes (at Remington Park on Sept. 29).”

One might be saying, “what is a horse that won the Springboard Mile doing in sprints?”

“We just feel he fits better in the shorter races and he likes the sprints better,” Ashford said.

Since leaving Remington Park in 2022, Wildatlanticstorm has won four-of-seven starts, including two extremely tough races this year at Prairie Meadows – an overnight $51,640 handicap at six furlongs on the dirt on May 31 this year and the $75,000 John Wayne Stakes, going six furlongs, on June 22.

Wildatlanticstorm, a son of Stormy Atlantic, out of the Big Brown mare Imsortaspecial, has a racing record of 13 starts, eight wins, two seconds and one third for $527,252 in earnings. He stamped a lot of boxes for firsts when he won the Springboard Mile here. He was the first Iowa-bred to win the race in its 22-year history at that time. It was the first starter in the Springboard for Ashford and it was the first time jockey Leandro Goncalves had ever ridden in it. Wildatlanticstorm won the race by 1-1/4 lengths at 15-1 odds and paid $32 to win.

If Wildatlanticstorm doesn’t make it back to Remington Park, have no fear. There is a good chance Ashford will find a 2-year-old in his barn that has a chance to repeat the feat in this year’s edition of the Springboard Mile, scheduled for the season’s final night Friday, Dec. 13. The Springboard also carries qualifying points for the 2025 Kentucky Derby.

“I have 40 horses in my barn and 23 of them are 2-year-olds,” he said. “I’m really excited about them. I saw this quote on Facebook the other day. I can’t even remember who said it, but it’s true. It said, ‘You will never see a man more optimistic than one who has a barn full of good 2-year-olds.’ ”

Ashford trains for a couple of top owners at Remington Park – Tom Durant from Grapevine, Texas and Ron Stolich from Lodi, Calif. They each had five wins at Remington Park last fall.
“Ron bought 20 2-year-olds at a sale one year,” said Ashford.

He and his owners have filled up those stalls with 2-year-olds that range from top-dollar purchases to bargain basement wannabes. Durant has one in Ashford’s barn, Revelant, that he purchased for $310,000 that had previously been bought in a mixed sale in the Fasig-Tipton for $225,000, then was pinhooked for $275,000 in the Keeneland Yearling September Sale of 2023 for $275,000. Durant then bought the filly, by Triple Crown winner Justify from the Ocala Breeders Sale in June this year in Florida.

On the other hand, Ray and his wife of 22 years, Karon, were at the Texas Thoroughbred Association Yearling Sale last year and bought a 2-year-old gelding named Waylon’s Guitar for $1,000. That 2-year-old has been entered to race on opening night, Friday, Aug. 16, at Remington Park in a maiden race, the ninth of 10 races on the card.

“That’s kind of a funny story,” he said. “I was down there looking at horses and every time I’d look at another horse, this gelding was messing with me, trying to get my attention. I kind of liked the way he looked, but when he went into the ring, no one bid anything on him. I told the guy I like him and he gave me the bargain basement price of $1,000.”

Ashford worked this son of Atreides (who went four-for-five in the winner’s circle in his racing career with $120,176 in earnings) three times at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, to get him ready for his first race.

“At that point, Karon came to me and asked me, ‘How’s MY horse doing?’ I said, ‘Your horse?’ So she owns him now,” he laughed.

How about when he and his son Tristan, who also trains at Remington Park, and Karon are together at a sale and all like the same horse, who gets to train that purchase, son or Dad?

“Of course I’m (left) out,” he said. Being the son apparently trumps 22 years of marriage.

If that’s not enough juvenile stock from top to bottom, Ashford said he also has a half-sister to Wildatlanticstorm in Imamidnightspecial, who is out of the same dam (mother) but by a different sire, Midnight Lute, who won the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. That 2-year-old filly will be a first-time starter at Remington Park when she is ready. She has had three workouts at Lone Star.

Stolich also has placed $30,000 purchase Good Product with Ashford, a 2-year-old half-brother to the Steve Asmussen-trained stakes winner Tap the Dot. They share the same dam in Dot Product. Tap the Dot won last year’s Red Earth Stakes here. Good Product broke his maiden in his career debut at Lone Star Park on June 15 and then ran fourth in the Texas Thoroughbred Association Futurity on July 13.

Ashford, who grew up in Carlsbad, N.M., got into the training business because his dad, Ray, Sr., did it as a hobby.

“He was a miner,” Ray said. “When he would finally get some time off, he would take us to racetracks and I was hooked.”

Ray, Jr., was 20 years old when he started officially training, according to Equibase statistics, 34 years of conditioning horses, he has started 6,108 times, won 929 races, run second in 881 more and checked in third another 829 times for horses’ earnings of $15,697,797. Wildatlanticstorm is his top money earner.

Workouts – Friday, Aug. 9
Cloudy skies greeted those training and working on Friday morning, with temperatures ranging from the low-70s, then dropping to the mid-60s when it began to rain in the final hour of the session. 134 horses received official workouts.

Mine That Star had the bullet five-furlong work of the morning in :59.87, handily over a fast track. Owned by Judge Lanier Racing of Taiban, N.M. and trained by Dick Cappellucci, the 7-year-old Kentucky-bred horse is a multiple stakes winner, all in New Mexico, with his most recent stakes triumph in the $125,000 Zia Park Championship in Hobbs on Nov. 28, 2023. Mine That Star is by Pioneerof The Nile from the Smart Strike mare Mining My Own.

Mine That Star has never attempted a race at Remington Park, he has career earnings of $600,125 from 29 starts, 10 wins, 4 seconds and 5 thirds. He has been entered in the $100,000 Governor’s Cup on the season’s opening night, Aug. 16.

The fastest four-furlong workout Friday was owned by Lady Yellowstone, a 3-year-old Kentucky-bred filly owned by Kai and Carolyn Hampton and trained by Andy Gladd.

Lady Yellowstone went a half-mile in :47.41 handily. She is a daughter of Cloud Computing from the Stephen Got Even mare Sound of Thunder. She broke her maiden status at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla. on April 8 this spring. She had one third-place effort from three Remington Park starts in 2023.

Lady Yellowstone has a career mark of 10 starts, 1 win, 2 seconds and 1 third.

Another work note on Friday, Without A Trace, entered in the Governor’s Cup on opening night, worked four furlongs this morning in :52.94 breezing for owner/trainer Karen Jacks. Without A Trace is at 9-2 odds in the morning line for the Governor’s Cup and has 3 wins from 7 attempts. He will make his first start at Remington Park in the Governor’s Cup.

Workouts – Thursday, Aug. 8
Media Mogul, a half-brother to 2023 Belmont Stakes winner Arcangelo, topped the five-furlong works on Thursday with a move of :59.21 handily over a fast track.

Owned by Judy Pryor of Omaha, Neb. and trained by Boyd “Jobe” Caster, Media Mogul is a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred horse by Empire Maker from the Tapit mare Modeling. The horse broke his maiden at Remington Park on Sept. 13, 2023.

Media Mogul has just one win from nine attempts but landed placed in four of his five allowance attempts this spring at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. He has five career seconds and two third-place effort, and overall earnings of $126,000.

Thursday’s best four-furlong workout was provided by Golden Rebal, a 4-year-old gelding owned by Edward B. Melzer Revocable Trust of Edmond, Okla. Trained by Alan Williams, Golden Rebal went over the fast surface in :48.09 handily.

A Kentucky-bred son of Goldencents from the Tenpins mare Ten Crowns, Golden Rebal has 8 career starts, 1 win, 3 seconds and 2 thirds. He broke his maiden status on March 20 this year at Will Rogers Downs. He had one third-place effort in 2023 at Remington Park.

A total of 102 horses received workouts Thursday, under sunny skies with temperatures in the high-70s to low-80s.

Remington Park has provided more than $357 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.

-30-