OKLAHOMA DERBY MAY FEATURE HORSES WHO RAN THIRD TO TRIPLE CROWN WINNER JUSTIFY

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby, to be run Sept. 30 at Remington Park, is expected to include likely starters Core Beliefs and Lone Sailor. Both horses have figured prominently on the national scene this year in the 3-year-old championship division.

Core Beliefs ran third to Triple Crown winner Justify in the Grade 1 $1 million Santa Anita Derby in southern California in April before winning the Grade 3, $500,000 Ohio Derby in June at Thistledown in Cleveland.

Lone Sailor competed in both the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. and the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore. He then finished third to Good Magic in the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. Most recently, Lone Sailor was second to Limation in the Grade 3, $300,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La.

Other 3-year-olds expected for the Oklahoma Derby are Believe in Royalty for trainer Larry Jones and Tatters To Riches, conditioned by Jeff Mullins. Believe in Royalty won the Ellis Park Derby in western Kentucky in August. He competed in the 2017 Springboard Mile at Remington Park, finishing sixth in a field of 12.

Tatters To Riches didn’t begin his 3-year-old season until Del Mar this summer in southern California. He was a perfect two-for-two there, winning an allowance race and then then the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes. Tatters To Riches was at 9-2 odds in the Grade 1, Del Mar Futurity against Bolt D’Oro last year.

Core Beliefs is trained by Peter Eurton and Lone Sailor by Tom Amoss. Core Beliefs, a Kentucky-bred son of Quality Road, broke his maiden at Santa Anita in March and immediately came back in the Santa Anita Derby. Despite going off at 41-1 odds, he ran third to the two best 3-year-olds on the West Coast and arguably the country – Justify and Bolt D’Oro. He has earned $595,360 for owner Gary Broad with two wins from seven starts, only missing the board once in his career.

Eurton saddled Eclipse Award winning Champagne Room to victory in the 2017 Remington Park Oaks. The race now carries Grade 3 status for the first time and is the lead undercard race on Oklahoma Derby Day.

Lone Sailor closed from 12th to finish eighth in the Kentucky Derby and was then beaten only two lengths by Justify in the Preakness. He has run second or third in four different graded stakes this year. Lone Sailor broke his maiden at Saratoga in upstate New York last year and then came right back to finish a fast-closing third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland. He then was the runner-up in the $80,000 Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs as a 2-year-old finishing ahead of Bravazo, who ran second in the Preakness and Haskell and then third in the Travers.

Among others with connections considering the Oklahoma Derby is Hofburg, who went off as the second favorite to Justify in the Belmont Stakes. He ran third in that race for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

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