GRADE 1 STAKES WINNER AND OKLAHOMA-BRED APOLLITICAL PENCE RETIRES AFTER MILLIONAIRE RACING CAREER
Apollitical Pence, a multiple stakes-winning American Quarter Horse at Remington Park and one of only five horses that won the Grade 1, 440-yard Champion of Champions Stakes multiple times at Los Alamitos in California, has retired from racing at 8 years old.
An Oklahoma-bred gelded son of Apollitical Jess, out of the Tres Seis mare Send City, will retire in Oklahoma at his owners’ place – the Dunn Ranch (Matt and Bendi Dunn) at Wynnewood, Okla. His connections made the announcement on social media this weekend. He was trained by Monty Arrossa, Blane Wood and Trey Wood while at Remington Park, where he was voted the Champion 3-year-old for the 2019 season in Oklahoma City. His connections gushed about him and his well-deserved retirement. Apollitical Pence finishes his career with 41 starts, 20 wins, six seconds and seven thirds for earnings of $1,867,319.
“It has been an absolute honor to train and manage this phenomenal horse,” Arrossa said in a Facebook post. “I want to thank my assistants, my grooms, my vets, my shoers and my entire team for helping Pence be all he could be. I especially want to thank Matt Dunn and Bendi Dunn for sharing him with us and the world. Pence retires completely sound. I’m going to miss seeing him every day, but am at peace knowing he will have a long and well-deserved retirement. Thank you, my friend, you took me and a lot of people on a ride of a lifetime. Enjoy the green grass!”
Apollitical Pence was a 10-time stakes winner in his career, taking down the Champion of Champions, the top race in the country for older Quarter Horses, twice. He won it first in 2020 and defended that title in 2021. He was sent off at 12-1 odds in that first Champion of Champions win.
Apollitical Pence was a three-time stakes winner at Remington Park, capturing the Mighty Deck Three Stakes, restricted to Oklahoma-breds, twice (2020 and 2021) and also winning the Grade 3 Heritage Place Derby as a 3-year-old in 2019.
He had three other Grade 1 wins in his career – the Brad McKinzie Winter Championship Stakes twice (2022 and 2023, defeating AQHA World Champion Empressum in the latter of the two) and the Robert L. Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship (2022).
The final start of his career came at Los Alamitos this year when he finished fifth in the Brad McKinzie Winter Championship trials on Jan. 28. As an 8-year-old with that kind of run in a race that he used to win with ease, it was time for him to hang up the horseshoes.
“We are so excited to get him back to Oklahoma and spoil him FOREVER,” Bendi Dunn posted on social media. “Retiring him sound after 41 starts with never any surgeries. Big thanks to all of his trainers, grooms, jockeys and fans that helped make him what he is.”
Apollitical Pence was ridden to victory in the 2021 Mighty Deck Three stakes by Francisco Calderon (Arrossa trained), the 2021 and 2023 AQHA World Champion Jockey, and Ricky Ramirez in the 2020 Mighty Deck Three (Blane Wood trainer) and the Heritage Place Derby (Trey Wood trainer).
“He’s fast; the gates open and he’s gone,” Calderon said after his second Mighty Deck Three victory in which he beat two multiple stakes winners, who ran second and third, respectively – Charlies Fury and Eagles Fly Higher.
Ramirez said he was lucky to win the Mighty Deck Three the first time.
“We were a half-length ahead halfway through the race and then he started looking at the lights,” Ramirez said. He wound up beating stakes winner VF Jedi Returns by a neck in that race.
Winning the 250-yard Mighty Deck Three Stakes was a great example of the overall talent and versatility Apollitical Pence had on the racetrack, handing short quick races as well as the classic quarter-mile events.
WEEKEND WORKOUT TAB
Remington Park was still abuzz this weekend over Kams Relentless’ blazing fast 250-yard workout last Thursday of :13.28 handily from the gate in a 250-yard effort. In the first three days of workouts, that was easily the fastest of any horse from 250 yards. Since then, the track was closed Monday morning because of snow on the ground, and no horses worked 250 yards on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 10 & 11.
“We were very happy with his workout,” trainer Clint Crawford said of the 3-year-old Kams Relentless. “That should set him up perfectly for the Oklahoma Derby.”
The Grade 3, $200,000 Oklahoma Derby takes place on Saturday, March 23 at 350 yards.
Here were some of the sharper workouts from Friday and Saturday’s tab:
On Friday, Haileys Comet and SR Dark Storm recorded the fastest times of the day at 220 yards of 54 horses worked that distance. They both went :11.49 handily from the gate. Finest Issue was just off that with :11.52 from the gate with the same kind of urging.
Haileys Comet is a 3-year-old filly by Flying Cowboy 123, is trained by Casey Black and owned by Omar Hernandez. The filly is a maiden winner in nine starts and was ridden to victory at Remington Park last year by Joseph Belloc, Jr.
SR Dark Storm, a 3-year-old gelding by The Louisiana Cartel, is trained by Everardo Escamilla-Gonzalez and owned by Omar Hernandez and Tovars Little. He is still a maiden after six career starts.
Finest Issue is a 3-year-old filly owned and trained by Manuel Mata. According to Equibase statistics, she is 0-for-8 lifetime with a couple of board hits – two seconds and one third.
On Saturday, 48 horses worked 220 yards and Cash Queen posted a co-bullet time of :11.51 handily from the gate. Cash Queen is a 3-year-old full sister to multiple stakes-winning 6-year-old Appaloosa, Queen for Cash. They are both daughters of Hes Relentless (QH), out of the Ivory James mare Ivory Queen. Queen for Cash upset the apple cart at Remington Park in 2022, winning the Mister Lewie Stakes at 32-1 odds for trainer Jesus Ruiz and jockey Paul Nieto. Gary Vaughan owns both Apps.
Queen for Cash had an up and down year in 2023 at Remington, winning one allowance race, but awakened once departing the property. She won five stakes races in a row, two at Fair Meadows in Tulsa, Okla., and three at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla. Her full sister Cash Queen has a way to go to catch up to that kind of accolades. She is 1-for-5 in her career, with one second and one third for earnings of $8,027. Queen for Cash has won 13-of-26 lifetime for $171,103 in her bankroll.
Hotwire Hottie shared the co-bullet time of 11.51 from the gate at 220 yards, to tie Cash Queen for the fastest time of the day. The 3-year-old Paint filly kept it all in mixed company among the bullet workers. She is a daughter of MHM Hotwire, trained by Salimm Hernandez and owned by Claudia Torres. She is still a maiden after seven career starts, but has finished in the money in five of those seven tries and got fourth-place checks in the other two.
Remington Park has provided more than $344 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 racing schedule begins Thursday, March 7, as the American Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa Season starts its 50-date season. Parking and admission are always free. 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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