ONE MORE BREEDERS’ CUP WINNING JOCKEY WILL BE PART OF OKLAHOMA DERBY BESIDES MIKE SMITH, FLORENT GEROUX

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith has won 27 Breeders’ Cup races in his career and Florent Geroux has won eight. Both have mounts in Sunday’s Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park. There is also one more Breeders’ Cup-winning jockey involved in the race who has dodged the spotlight.

Juan Leyva isn’t riding in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby, but he will be saddling two of the horses. Leyva, who won the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint as a jockey aboard Musical Romance, is now an assistant trainer for John Sadler on the West Coast. Sadler sent Leyva to Remington Park to care for Indispensable (3-1 morning-line odds) and Canada Gate (8-1) in the Oklahoma Derby.

If anyone knows how to handle classy horses, it’s Leyva. He was also the exercise rider for Flightline, one of the greatest racehorses of modern history, also trained by Sadler. Flightline was six-for-six in his career, winning the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2022 and was Horse of the Year.

“I really like the way both of these horses are on the improve,” Leyva said of Indispensable and Canada Gate. “Both got 7s on the Rag Sheets and Indispensable ran second to Muth (the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby winner this year at Oaklawn) in the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. I don’t really know which one I like the best. It’s tough.”

Leyva shocked the world when he won with Musical Romance in the first Breeders’ Cup mount of his life in that 2011 race. In a cavalry charge to the wire, Leyva squeezed between horses down on the rail with a fearless ride to get up and win at 20-1 odds by 1-1/4 lengths.

“Jockey Juan Leyva rolling the dice on the pine with Musical Romance pulls off a huge upset,” then TVG analyst Todd Schrupp said, excitedly, after the race, after Leyva went where more experienced Breeders’ Cup jockeys failed to tread for the win.

Leyva ended his 17-year riding career that started in 2001 with 8,677 starts, 803 wins, 982 seconds and 1,052 thirds for $22,942,868 in horses’ earnings.

“Both (Indispensable and Canada Gate) looked good moving over the track (Friday morning) during Remington Park workouts,” Leyva said.

Indispensable, a 3-year-old Kentucky-bred colt by Constitution, out of the Candy Ride (ARG) mare High Performer, drew the rail for this 1-1/8th miles race on the dirt and Canada Gate will break from gate number three. Reylu Gutierrez and Armando Ayuso will get a leg up from Leyva, respectively. Indispensable races for the ownership of Talla Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and Edwin S. Barker. His record is 10-1-3-4, $130,200. Canada Gate, owned by Hronis Racing, is 5-1-1-1, $66,600.

The Oklahoma Derby program on Sunday, Sept. 29 at Remington Park features 10 races, the final eight are stakes events. The card opens at 3pm-Central.

The Oklahoma Derby eve card Saturday, Sept. 28, features nine races, with two (race six and race nine) over the turf course. The track is fast, turf is firm. First race at 6:30pm-central.

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 continues through Dec. 13. The Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby takes place on Sunday, Sept. 29. 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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