TRAINER STEVE MARTIN HAS SOME WILD, CRAZY HORSES IN TOUGH RACE THIS WEEK AT REMINGTON PARK

Trainer Steve Martin proved he was a wild, crazy guy at Remington Park in 2011 when a horse he owned, Ted’s Folly, won the Springboard Mile. Wilson Brown trained that Oklahoma-bred.

Martin, 59, has been married to his wife Brooke for 22 years now, but when Ted’s Folly crossed the finish line first by 1-1/4 lengths at 6-1 odds, he did a wild and crazy thing.

“I ran over and grabbed my high school science teacher, Randy Sheiber (who was among all the friends from Morrison, Okla., that night), picked him up and screamed and yelled, ‘We just won!’ said Martin.

Martin’s wife was right there, but you know, after you’ve been married awhile…

“You just grab the first person you come to,” said Martin.

Ted’s Folly was the best horse of Martin’s career and his top runner as an owner. Ted’s Folly ran out a record of 65 starts, 11 wins, nine seconds and five thirds for earnings of $530,234. If he had been born a couple of years earlier, Martin would never have had him. Martin, being the good dad, trained and owned from 1983-2000, but decided to quit cold turkey and didn’t return until 2011, the year Ted’s Folly was a 2-year-old and won the big race.

“Brooke and I decided it would be best to raise the two kids and let training take care of itself,” he said. “I came back to it in 2011 when they (son Montana and daughter Georgia Belle) were basically grown up. That was the same year Ted’s Folly came around and we bought him for $12,000. With him we were hooked again. When you win a $300,000 race with a $12,000 horse, you will grab your science teacher. Ted’s Folly won six races in a row for us at Remington Park.”

Martin has been training ever since and has a pair of strong horses in an open allowance race on Friday night at Remington Park that is a stakes-caliber event. His two runners are Fly to the Bank and Mister Wayside. They are both owned by Juan Carlos Gallegos of Edmond, Okla. Fly to the Bank is the 7-2 lukewarm morning-line favorite in a field of 13 horses running in the open allowance. Mister Wayside is the 5-1 third morning-line favorite. That’s an indication of just how tough a race it is. In fact, Mister Wayside beat his stablemate in two of their last three starts at Fair Meadows in Tulsa, Okla., including the last time out in the Route 66 Stakes on July 18.

Obed Sanchez gets the mount on Fly to the Bank and Belen Quinonez is named on Mister Wayside. The race is set for 6-1/2 furlongs on the main track. The race includes stakes winners Dark Afternoon (Remington Park Turf Sprint Stakes winner last year), Soul Sacrifice (Jim Thorpe Stakes winner in 2023), and Absaroka (Oklahoma Classics Cup winner in 2021). There are several others who are stakes placed and one on the rail, Pomeroy Haze that has won seven times at Remington Park.

Fly to the Bank, who was voted 2023 Remington Park Champion Older Male, won the Oklahoma Classics Sprint Stakes last year and the Silver Goblin Stakes, a good reason Martin calls this his home track.

“I can’t brag on this place enough,” said Martin, who makes his home in Morrison on 300 acres. “My dad (Bob), who is not with us anymore, always told me to set might sights on Remington Park and it would make your whole year.

While it’s true Martin has every joke in the book concerning one of the greatest comedians of all time, but he still likes to tell the stories about how it baffled some telephone operators back in the day.

“When I was a kid and Steve Martin was the rage with the movie The Jerk, I lived out in the country and even though the school gymnasium was only six and a half miles from my home, it was still a long-distance call,” he said. “That was back when you had to pay for a long-distance call. So when practice was over, I’d have to call my dad to come get me, but we had a plan. The operators were so confused when I told them I needed to make a collect call from Steve Martin. It was my signal to dad that it was time to come pick me up. We never had to pay for the calls because Dad would turn it down. Of course, the operators would always say, ‘You have to be kidding me. (Multi-millionaire comedian) Steve Martin needs to make a collect call?’ They’d say, ‘He must really not wanted to talk to you,’ but I still knew he was coming to get me.”

When it comes to putting horses on the track, Martin is no joker. Stay tuned with the pair he has in Friday. His stars could be coming to a stakes race near you later this year and, you guessed it, Steve Martin will be there.

Workouts – Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Moro Lingerie earned the bullet four-furlong workout on Wednesday morning at Remington Park. A total of 64 Thoroughbreds worked under partly-sunny skies with temperatures in the mid-70s.

Moro Lingerie moved over the fast track in :48.25 handily to earn top honors of 42 at the distance this morning.

Owned and trained by Steve Williams of Wagoner, Okla., Moro Lingerie is a Texas-bred 5-year-old mare by Moro Tap from the Empire Maker broodmare Sekmet. She has a lifetime record of 21 starts with three wins, four places and two shows for total earnings of $87,126.

Moro Lingerie is preparing for her first start of 2024. She has never won at Remington Park, and finished third here in her most recent effort, against allowance rivals on Nov. 21, 2023.

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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