MULTIPLE STAKES WINNER ON TURF, SUNLIT SONG, RETURNS TO REMINGTON PARK
If not for a half-length and three-quarters of a length, Sunlit Song would have won the $75,000 Remington Green Stakes four years in a row. As it is, the old gray gelding has won two of the past four (2023 and 2020) and finished second in the other two.
Sunlit Song has returned to defend his most recent Green title at Remington Park for the upcoming meet as a 9-year-old. A Texas-bred gelded son of My Golden Song, out of the Early Flyer mare Fly So True, he has not won since the Remington Green last year on Sept. 24. He ran well earlier this year at Sam Houston Race Park in Texas, finishing second in the Richard King Turf Stakes and third in the Houston Turf Stakes. He couldn’t get a race at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, which is normally his subsequent stop from Houston.
“We either couldn’t find a race that would go for him or find one in the (condition) book that fit him and then when we finally did, he breezed good for us coming up to the race,” said trainer Mindy Willis. “Then two days before the race, we sent him out for a gallop and he coughed. I talked to the owners (Carolyn Barnett, who lives near Houston and Becky Harding from Dallas) and we all thought it best just to give him some time off. He had a bit of a mucous problem.”
At 9 years old, Willis says she understands there might be setbacks on occasion.
“I look at him in his stall and say, ‘Hey, I can relate,’” said Willis, who has been saddling horses at Remington Park since it opened in 1988.
Consequently, Sunlit Song will have had from March 23 to the time of his first race at Remington Park to have been on a vacation, a period of about six months. Last year when he ran in the Remington Green, he had a little less than two months away from the track and won the 1-1/8 miles race on the turf with Remington Park’s champion rider Stewart Elliott in the saddle. Elliott is back working horses at Remington Park for the first time since he was injured in the paddock and missed the last three weeks of the Lone Star Park season.
“He is working horses,” Willis said of the veteran jockey with 5,687 career victories including the 2004 Kentucky Derby aboard Smarty Jones. “I believe a horse flipped on him in the Lone Star paddock and what he thought was at first soreness turned into a hairline fracture of his tailbone.”
Although it wasn’t one of her horses that acted up with Elliott, Willis said she is familiar with horses being unruly in the saddling area.
“Sunlit Song was like that when he was young,” she said. “Carolyn and Becky wouldn’t even come to the paddock before a race. They were afraid to get near him. They would stay in the grandstand. He was a real jerk. I remember him throwing jockey and saddle off of himself when he was about three.”
Now the owners feed him carrots and his favorite treats in the barn like a pet. Sunlit Song no longer feels the need to be a bad actor before races.
“Shoot, they come up and pet him now,” Willis said. “I think he will be ready to run for this Remington Park meet and we will point him to the Remington Green.”
Sunlit Song was bred in Texas by Barnett and his current record is 45 career starts, 18 wins, 13 seconds and six thirds for earnings of $757,520. Willis, who stands as the third-leading all-time female trainer at Remington Park, behind only Kari Craddock and Lynn Chleborad, has a career record of 7,529 starters, 824 wins, 929 seconds and 988 thirds for horses’ earnings of $13,718,208.
WORKOUTS
Friday, Aug. 2
Cielo’s Knight clocked the fastest work at four furlongs on Friday morning, finishing handily in a brisk :46.87 handily. The track played a little faster than normal as morning rains and temperatures in the 70s tightened it up a bit. Cielo’s Knight is the first horse to break the 47-second mark in workouts since July 17. He is a 3-year-old Oklahoma-bred gelding by Special Rate, out of the Dove Hunt mare Cielo Dove from the barn of trainer Brent Davidson.
Cielo’s Knight is owned by Stephen R. Baker and Colleen Davidson. The gelding’s record, coming into this meet, is five starts, two wins, one second and one third, all at Remington Park last year. This home-bred has not raced since then. His earnings sit at $51,515. Cielo’s Knight broke his maiden here in his second lifetime start and then won a claiming race for a $30,000 tag against non-winners of two lifetime on Dec. 2.
Saturday, Aug. 3
Third Street – :1:00.18 handily for five furlongs over a fast track. The fourth-place finisher in the 2023 Springboard Mile is trained by Shawn Davis. A Louisiana-bred gelding by Yoshida (Jpn) from the Street Boss broodmare Abbey Street, was the fastest of 15 horses that traveled that distance.
Team Gormley – :46.70 handily at four furlongs – Broke his maiden for trainer Kevin Scholl at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas on April 19 and then won again in a Texas-bred first-level allowance race on June 1 at Lone Star by three lengths. This gelding by Gormley from the Dynaformer mare Dance Team, was 0-for-3 against maiden company in three tries at Remington Park last year, but did have two good second-place efforts.
Sunday, Aug. 4
Just a Sip – :47.50 handily over a fast track at four furlongs – This filly, trained by Ray Ashford, broke her maiden at Lone Star on May 17 this year after running second in a maiden race at Remington Park last fall in her only start here. She is owned by Ron Stolich. Her last start came on the Fourth of July at Lone Star when she ran a competitive third against allowance-optional claiming horses.
Monday, Aug. 5
The only horses going five furlongs on Monday, managed to come in under the one-minute mark. U.S. Army and Dutch Bus, both covered the distance in :59.91 handily on a fast track for Davis.. The former was the winner of last year’s $75,000 Jeffrey A. Hawk Memorial Stakes by 4-3/4. U.S. Army hasn’t won since leaving Remington Park last year, but ran a respectable second and third in allowance-optional claiming company at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. George Sharp owns both horses.
Krik Tak – :49.32 handily at four furlongs – This 3-year-old filly, trained by Bret Calhoun, was the sixth-place finisher in the Trapeze Stakes (now the Toby Keith Stakes) after breaking her maiden here on Nov. 10, 2023. Owned by Kat Kirk and Wayne Sanders, Krik Tak is a Kentucky-bred by Liam’s Map from Vino D’Oro by Medaglia D’Oro.
Monday training was over a fast track with sunny skies and temperatures in the high-70s.
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-