GLEE COULD BRING JOY AS EVEN-MONEY FAVORITE IN TOBY KEITH STAKES AT REMINGTON PARK

Glee made some jaws drop as a 15-1/2 length winner in the $50,000 E.L. Gaylord Stakes at Remington Park on Sept. 29. Understandably, she has been made the even-money favorite in the first Toby Keith Stakes on Friday, Dec. 13.

The $75,000 Toby Keith Stakes was formally called the Trapeze Stakes. It is Remington Park’s top open-company stakes event for 2-year-old fillies. The race was renamed to honor Keith, a long-time Oklahoma owner/breeder and supporter of Remington Park, after his passing earlier this year.

A 2-year-old Texas-bred filly, Glee is trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. She will be trying to make it two stakes wins in a row at Remington Park after her eye-opening win by a city block in the E.L. Gaylord, going 6-1/2 furlongs. The Toby Keith Stakes is at one mile.

Leading rider Stewart Elliott, easily on his way to his second riding title at Remington Park, was aboard Glee in her first stakes win and retains the mount now that she has returned to the track where she ran her best race. Erik Asmussen, one of Steve’s jockey sons, rode Glee in her last out, the $200,000 Myrtlewood Stakes on Oct. 25 at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky. Glee finished fifth, beaten 5-1/4 lengths in that six-furlong event.

Glee is a daughter of Honor A.P., out of the Bluegrass Cat mare Red Tabby. She is the second-leading money earner in the field with $83,659 bankrolled after five starts. The top money horse in the Keith is the 5-2 second morning-line favorite, Tapitures Actor, who has earned $145,278 in six races.

Glee has a record of five starts, two wins and one second. She broke her maiden at first asking at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, by 5-1/2 lengths with Erik in the saddle at 9-2 odds on May 12 over a sloppy track. She hasn’t run in anything but stakes races since. Her best effort, other than the E.L. Gaylord when she was the 6-5 odds wagering favorite, came in the $100,000 Prairie Meadows Debutante on Aug. 23 when she was the runner-up at six furlongs.

Glee, bred by No Escape Ranch, has already passed her sales price in earnings. The filly was bought out of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale in 2023 for $60,000.

Tapitures Actor has been no less impressive in her young career, and draws the rail for the Toby Keith, the shortest way around the track. This juvenile Texas-bred daughter of Tapiture, out of the Curlin mare Upstage, will be ridden by West Coast veteran rider Edwin Maldonado for trainer Jayde Gelner of Vinton, La., who also owns the filly. He bought her for $35,000 from the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Yearling Sale of July 2023. She has been more than lucrative when it comes to getting that money back, winning three of six starts with two second-place finishes.

Gelner expected big things from Tapitures Actor from Day One. After breaking her maiden against fellow Texas-breds at Lone Star Park on May 25, Gelner put her in the $150,000 Texas Thoroughbred Association Futurity at 5-1/2 furlongs and she nearly won, finishing second, beaten only three-quarters of a length. Arriving at Remington Park, she won an allowance event here on Sept. 5 by 8-1/2 lengths in a 5-1/2 furlong sprint. She then was second to Glee in the Gaylord.

Tapitures Actor was impressive in her most recent effort, the $100,000 My Trusty Cat Stakes at Delta Downs in Louisiana. She went gate to wire in a 6-1/2 furlong as the even-money favorite, winning by 3-1/2 lengths.

There is one supplemental entry to the Toby Keith as Gormley’s Queen made a $3,000 payment to enter the race after not nominating to it originally.

Here is the field for the Toby Keith Stakes by program and post-position order with jockey, trainer and odds:
Tapitures Actor, Edwin Maldonado, Jayde Gelner, 5-2
La Camelia, Luis Quinonez, Steve Martin, 10-1
Elegant Echo, Leandro Goncalves, Alan Williams, 15-1
Runnin On Promises, Alfredo Triana, Jr., Stetson Rushton, 8-1
Gormley’s Queen, Floyd Wethey, Jr., Jayde Gelner, 12-1
Glee, Stewart Elliott, Steve Asmussen, 1-1
Café Au Lait, David Cabrera, Shawn Davis, 6-1

The Toby Keith is the ninth of 12 races and one of six stakes events on Dec. 13, the final night of the Remington Park season. The headliner is the $300,000 Springboard Mile with the undercard including the $75,000 Useeit Stakes, the $75,000 Jim Thorpe Stakes, the $75,000 She’s All In Stakes and the $75,000 Jeffrey Hawk Memorial.

Remington Park has provided more than $370 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 casino gaming. The 2024 Thoroughbred Season continues through Dec. 13 when the $300,000 Springboard Mile tops the final night of the season. The major 2-year-old stakes race of the season, the Springboard awards valuable 2025 Kentucky Derby qualifying points. 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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