SPRINGBOARD MILE DRAWS 11, OUTADORE IS MORNING-LINE FAVORITE
The $200,000 Springboard Mile, Remington Park’s top stakes race for 2-year-olds, drew a field of 11 this morning. The stakes will headline a program of 13 races on Friday night, Dec. 18, going as race 12 at approximately 10:28pm. The first race of the evening is at 5pm. All times are Central.
A pair of horses coming out of Breeders’ Cup races last month at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky. have entered the Springboard. They are the top two in the morning-line odds for the co-richest race of the Remington Park season.
Outadore, third in the Grade 1, $1,000,000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Nov. 6, has been tabbed as the morning-line favorite at 3-1 odds. The second horse in the line is Cowan, second in the Grade 2, $1,000,000 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, at odds of 4-1.
Owned by Breeze Easy and trained by Wesley Ward, Outadore will make his first attempt over dirt in the Springboard. All three of his career starts have been on turf. He broke his maiden at Saratoga in July, sprinting 5-1/2 furlongs. A colt by Outwork from the Tactical Cat mare Adore You, Outadore then won the $500,000 Juvenile Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 12 before his third-place effort in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
Outadore worked a bullet five furlongs this morning at Keeneland, labeled a breeze, in :59.60 over a fast track. Remington Park’s leading jockey, David Cabrera, has been named aboard Outadore for the Springboard.
Cowan has five career starts, sharing that distinction with Red N Wild, for the most of the Springboard entrants. Owned by the Houston partnership of William and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Madaket Stables and Spendthrift Farm, Cowan is trained by Remington Park’s leading all-time trainer Steve Asmussen.
A colt by Kantharos from the Smart Strike mare Tempers Flair, Cowan broke his maiden in his career debut at Churchill Downs in May. He has competed solely in stakes races since that victory and is still in search of his second career score. He ran third behind Outadore in the Juvenile Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs, beaten by five lengths. His following two starts were at Keeneland, finishing second in both the $150,000 Indian Summer Stakes on Oct. 4 and then in the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint at 5-1/2 furlongs on Nov. 6.
The Springboard Mile will be the first attempt for Cowan at the distance and his first start back on a main track after three straight in turf stakes. Stewart Elliott, the regular first-call rider at Remington Park for the Asmussen operation, will have the mount on Cowan.
Trainer Brad Cox will try to pull off the 2020 Oklahoma Derby/Springboard Mile double at Remington Park, having won the $200,000 derby in September with Shared Sense. He will look for a knockout effort by sending Joe Frazier into the Springboard, in the first stakes attempt for the colt named after one of the most famous boxers of all-time.
Owned by Ike and Dawn Thrash, Joe Frazier won his career debut, a $150,000 maiden-claiming event at Keeneland, scoring the six-furlong sprint by three lengths. An allowance start going 1-1/16 miles at Churchill Downs on Nov. 22 produced a third-place effort. After leading into the stretch in that two-turn event, Joe Frazier faded late, finishing 6-1/4 lengths back.
Jockey Richard Eramia, who rode Shared Sense to the Oklahoma Derby score for Cox, has been named on Joe Frazier who is at 5-1 odds in the morning-line.
Oklahoma-bred hero Number One Dude is at 6-1 odds in the morning-line and will attempt to remain undefeated in the Springboard, his fourth start of the Remington Park season. Owned by Terry Westemeir of Broken Arrow, Okla. and trained by Kari Craddock, Number One Dude attempts to become the first Oklahoma-bred to win the Springboard since Ted’s Folly in 2011.
Number One Dude won his career debut with Oklahoma-bred maiden special weight horses, going 5-1/2 furlongs, winning easily by 7-1/2 lengths on Sept. 18. He was entered in two subsequent stakes races – the $100,000 Oklahoma Classics Juvenile on Oct. 16 and the $75,000 Don McNeill Stakes on Nov. 13 – and won both of them. The Juvenile was at six furlongs for Oklahoma-breds and he finished one length ahead at the wire. Number One Dude then raced around two turns for the first time, blowing his competition away by six lengths at the Springboard Mile distance on a muddy track in the McNeill.
Jockey Ezequiel Lara has the mount on Number One Dude who also makes his first career attempt outside of the state-bred ranks.
Outadore is the top earner in the Springboard Mile with $424,100 from his three attempts. Number One Dude leads the field with three career wins.
The field for the Springboard Mile, by program and post-position order, with trainer, jockey and morning-line odds:
1. Senor Buscador: Todd Fincher, Luis Quinonez, 15-1
2. Number One Dude: Kari Craddock, Ezequiel Lara, 6-1
3. Vim And Vigor: Larry Stroope, Walter De La Cruz, 20-1
4. Gushing Oil: Danny Pish, Lane Luzzi, 15-1
5. Red N Wild: Terry Eoff, Sophie Doyle, 12-1
6. Game Day Play: Bret Calhoun, Lindey Wade, 10-1
7. Saffa’s Day: Steve Asmussen, Iram Diego, 10-1
8. Cowan: Steve Asmussen, Stewart Elliott, 4-1
9. Outadore: Wesley Ward, David Cabrera, 3-1 (morning-line favorite)
10. Joe Frazer: Brad Cox, Richard Eramia, 5-1
11. Flash Of Mischief: Karl Broberg, Ramon Vazquez, 15-1
The Springboard will carry qualifying points for the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Long Range Toddy gained 10 points in the 2018 Springboard Mile and earned his way into the Kentucky Derby field in 2019.
The Springboard Mile program begins with a twilight 5pm-Central first-race. The other five stakes events on the program include:
Race 8 – $75,000 She’s All In Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1 mile-70yards
Race 9 – $70,000 Jim Thorpe Stakes, 3-year-old Oklahoma-breds, 1 mile
Race 10 – $70,000 Useeit Stakes, 3-year-old Oklahoma-bred fillies, 1 mile
Race 11 – $60,000 Trapeze Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 1 mile
Race 13 – $60,000 Jeffrey Hawk Memorial, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile-70 yards
Tracked by more than 164,000 fans on Facebook and 10,500 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $254 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 is open daily for casino gaming and simulcast horse racing. The $200,000 Springboard Mile, the top stakes event for 2-year-olds at Remington Park, is featured on Friday, Dec. 18. The 2020 Thoroughbred Season continues through Sunday, Dec. 20. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
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