Grade 3 $200,000 REMINGTON PARK OAKS

The Remington Park Oaks features a field of eight 3-year-old fillies with the nation’s top trainer, Brad Cox, sending out the morning line favorite for this 1-1/16th miles race on the main track. Despite winning three consecutive Oklahoma Derbies from 2019-2021, Cox will be trying to win his first Remington Park Oaks. Cox currently sits atop the national standings for horses’ money earned with more than $21 million. Lifetime, Cox’s horses have brought in more than $154 million to his owners. Cox began training horses in 2005 and has since conditioned multiple Grade 1 stakes and Breeders’ Cup winners, including Knicks Go, Monomoy Girl and Essential Quality.

1 – PERFECT WISH 10-1
Owner: Norman Stables (Robert Norman) of Thomasville, Ala.
Trainer: Jayde Gelner
Jockey: Floyd Wethey, Jr.

This daughter of Midshipman, out of the Tale of the Cat mare Can You Talk, comes into the Remington Park Oaks as one of the local heroes even though she has not raced at Remington Park. She does, however, come out of the locally-based 23-year-old trainer Jayde Gelner’s barn which has been red hot all year long. She will make her debut after three wins in a row at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Ia., and Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas. She started her streak at Lone Star, breaking her maiden at 5-1/2 furlongs on May 28, following that up with another trip to the winner’s circle there in Allowance-optional $50,000 claiming company for fillies and mares that had not won two races in their careers. Her third win came at Prairie most impressively, drawing away by 7-3/4 lengths in the $70,000 Iowa Stallion Stakes race. She was bred in Kentucky by Stonehaven Steadings. Record: six starts, three wins and one third for earnings of $94,440.

2 – MERLAZZA 2-1
Owner: Don Alberto Stable of Lexington, Ky.
Trainer: Brad Cox
Jockey: Flavien Prat

This filly by Medaglia d’Oro, out of the Distorted Humor mare Mi Vida, started her career with three wins in her first four starts. She broke her maiden at Fair Grounds in New Orleans in her second start by 3-1/4 lengths as the 1-2 odds-on favorite. She won again by open daylight, three lengths, in her subsequent start against allowance optional $80,000 fillies and mares in her first try against winners, also at Fair Grounds. Merlazza completed the turkey with her third consecutive win in the $150,000 Valley of the Vapors Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. That was her first effort against stakes horses and she won by one length at one mile. She also hails from the barn of the nation’s top trainer by money earned with more than $21 million this year, according to Equibase statistics. She was bred in Kentucky by her owner. Record: seven starts,

three wins and one second for a bankroll of $220,210. She is the top money earner in the field.

3 – MAGIC BUBBLES 10-1
Owner: Michael and Troy Langford of Jonesboro, Ark.
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Jockey: Joel Rosario

This daughter of Empire Maker, out of the North Light (IRE) mare Rigorously, is looking for her first stakes win after winning her last start with first-level allowance company at Remington Park. It was her first start of the meet here and she won at one mile by three-quarters of a length with Remington Park’s leading jockey Stewart Elliott up. Asmussen, the all-time winningest trainer in thoroughbred racing history, makes the change to one of his top national riders, Joel Rosario, for the Oaks. Asmussen, a 17-time training title winner at Remington Park, is second this year in national money earnings with more than $20 million in the bank, second only to Cox. Magic Bubbles broke her maiden at Oaklawn on April 29 over a sloppy track in her fourth race against non-winners. She drew away by 4-1/2 lengths for that victory. She was bred in Kentucky by Michael Waresk. Record: eight starts, two wins, two seconds and one third for $127,788 in earnings.

4 – HONOR D LADY 9-2
Owner: Final Furlong Farm and Madaket Stables
Trainer: Saffie Joseph, Jr.
Jockey: Tyler Conner

This daughter of Honor Code filly out of the Blame mare Complicated was beaten by 43 lengths last try but that effort in the Saratoga Oaks Invitational can be tossed out because she raced over a soft turf course at Saratoga in upstate New York. Throw that race out and she ran second in her previous try in the Grade 3, $150,000 Selene Stakes at Woodbine in Canada on that track’s all-weather surface, going 1-1/16th miles. This filly’s one and only stakes win came on May 6 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla. In the $75,000 Honey Ryder Stakes. That race, however, was on the turf course at one mile while the Remington Park Oaks is on the dirt. She was bred in Kentucky by William Harrigan and Mike Pietrangelo. Record: seven starts, two wins, two seconds and two thirds for $124,567 in earnings.

5 – NOMADIC PRIDE 6-1
Owner: Late Night Stables
Trainer: Tom Amoss
Jockey: Cristian Torres

Another one that gets in off a win, but not against stakes horses. This daughter of Flatter, out of the Cherokee Run mare Cayala, was an easy winner by 3-3/4 lengths at Ellis Park in Kentucky, in a first-level allowance race. Last year’s top jockey at Remington Park and Oaklawn, Cristian Torres, gets the call for Tom Amoss. It will be

the first time Torres has been aboard this filly. She ran fourth, beaten 7-1/4 lengths by the morning line favorite, Merlazza, at Fair Grounds at this distance on March 25. She was bred in Kentucky by Kingswood Farm and David Egan. Record: eight starts, two wins and a bankroll of $71,920.

6 – APPROPRIATED FUNDS 8-1
Owner: BKD Consulting (Brian Ditto) of Grand Prairie, Texas
Trainer: Jaylan Clary
Jockey: Iram Diego

This filly by Arrogate, who won the Travers Stakes in track record time in 2016 and won the Breeders’ Cup Classic later in the fall, is hoping bloodlines are key in this race. She has won two of her last four starts, both victories coming in Allowance optional $50,000 claiming company. She has the benefit of racing over the Remington Park track in the past, but she will have to improve off those efforts. She is 1-for-6 in Oklahoma City. She had two stakes tries, running fourth in the $100,000 Trapeze Stakes here on Dec. 17 as a 2-year-old and also a fourth-place finish in the $50,000 E.L. Gaylord Stakes at Remington. She is out of the Stay Thirsty mare My Cousin Martha, and was bred in Kentucky by Spartan Team Investments. Record: 12 starts, three wins, four seconds and one third for a bankroll of $104,785.

7 – LOVE TANK 20-1
Owner: Judge Lanier Racing (Tom Makenna) and James Drought of Fort Sumner, N.M.
Trainer: Ray Ashford
Jockey: David Cabrera

Twice the runner-up in stakes races, this daughter of Kitten’s Joy, out of the Fahim (GB) mare Perichole (BRZ), is searching for her first stakes win. She ran second in the $75,000 Island Fashion Stakes and the $300,000 Sunland Park Oaks in New Mexico, beaten 9-1/4 lengths in the former race and 2-1/4 lengths in the latter. It took her seven tries against maidens before she broke through for her first win on January 15 this year, in her first race on Lasix. None of the fillies in this Oaks will be racing on Lasix, however. To her credit, she almost was a winner with tough maidens racing at Belmont Park in New York on the turf in her second career race. She was beaten only one length in the race that had a $90,000 purse. Love Tank is the most experienced filly in the race with 13 starts. She was bred in Kentucky by Bonne Chance Farm. Record: 13 starts, two wins, three seconds and earnings of $173,349.

8 – ANCIENT PEACE 5-2
Owner: Boardshorts Stables
Trainer: Brian Lynch
Jockey: Rafael Bejarano

The second-favorite in the morning line out of Australia native trainer Brian Lynch’s barn. The daughter of War Front, out of the A.P. Indy mare Deceptive Vision, has strong credentials to flash for this race. Only two races back, she finished second in the Grade

2, $200,000 Summer Oaks at Santa Anita in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. She led every step of the way in this race with the exception of the final strides when she was passed by Window Shopping. This versatile filly won two in a row at Santa Anita by widening margins in her last start as a 2-year-old and her first start as a 3-year-old. Those two races came on the turf and over an off main track. On Dec. 30, 2022, she won by 4-1/4 lengths on the grass to break through for her first career victory and then was even more impressive, winning by six lengths in gate-to-wire fashion in a first-level allowance race on a wet fast track. She went back to the turf for her last racing coming into the Remington Park Oaks, but she was soundly defeated in 10th in the Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes at Del Mar. Now she returns to the dirt and we shall see if her form returns as well. She was bred in Ontario, Canada, by Sam-Son Farm. Record: six starts, two wins and one second for a bankroll of $130,400.

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