Dee Keener of Inola, Okla., won his third training title in a row in the just completed 2025 Remington Park American Quarter Horse, Paint & Appaloosa Season. Keener also won more races in a season than any other trainer with 54.
Keener was a runaway winner in the standings that combine Quarter Horse wins with Paint and Appaloosa wins, beating runner-up Matt Whitekiller 54-28. Cristian Alcala finished third with 25 wins while Jason Olmstead compiled 20 victories, good for fourth in the standings.
Keener needed two victories to pass the 53 wins that Eddie Willis piled up in 2011 and he got the problem out of the way in a hurry on Champions Night, Saturday, May 31.
Keener won the first race of the night with Vesper Martini in the Grade 1, $20,000 Speedhorse Graham Paint and Appaloosa Stakes by a half-length. He then swept the early daily double by winning the second race of the night with his record-setting JC Speeding by 1-1/2 lengths. Both winners were Paints from Keener’s barn, although JC Speeding is double-registered as a Quarter Horse.
JC Speeding won the world’s richest race for Paints and Appaloosas, the Grade 1, $238,200 Speedhorse Graham Paint & Appaloosa Futurity. The victory moved Keener into record status for a single season at Remington Park.
The money earnings standings for trainers came down to the final race of the meet as conditioner Jason Olmstead sweated out a 10-minute photo decision by the stewards concerning his runner, Effortless Favorite, and Apollirevenge who is trained by Marco Chavez-Gutierrez. When the judges made the Grade 1, $1,160,010 Heritage Place Futurity a dead-heat for the win, the triumph propelled Olmstead to the top of the money earnings with $1,249,636. Keener was second with $1,119,583.
Each winner of the Heritage Place Futurity won $342,498 apiece for the dead heat. No other trainers this season reached the $1 million plateau in earnings.
Leading Jockey – Juan Pulido
Jockey Juan Pulido ran away with the riders’ title with 67 total wins for the meet to runner-up Francisco Calderon who had 43 trips to the winner’s circle.
Roman Cruz was third in jockey wins with 33 while Mario Delgado finished fourth with 32.
Pulido had not won the jockeys’ title at Remington Park since 2021 when he had a meager 46 wins in comparison. This was his second trophy for this category. No other jockey had won this many times at Remington Park in a season since G.R. Carter finished 2014 with 66. There were those wondering if Pulido was getting near the record for wins, but they need not. That record is safely held by Carter, who won an incredible 98 races in 2008.
In the money race, the finish was much tighter. Pulido won that one, too, as his horses compiled $1,508,128 while Calderon’s mounts earned $1,423,122. Had Calderon’s mount, Apollirevenge, in the Heritage Place Futurity won by a nose instead of dead-heating, Calderon would have won the money race. Roman Cruz was the only other jockey with mount earnings beyond seven digits as he finished third with $1,136,021.
Leading Owner – 918 Bloodstock
The owners’ race was the only run for a title that came down to the last day for wins. Alcala Ranch of Jones, Okla. and 918 Bloodstock of Inola, Okla., were the two entities fighting tooth and nail for the trophy. In the end, 918 Bloodstock prevailed 16-15 when Vesper Martini won the first race on the final night of racing. That gave 918 Bloodstock a two-win separation and it was too much for Alcala Ranch to overcome.
Dunn Ranch of Wynnewood, Okla. was third for the season with 10 wins by an owner.
Alcala Ranch did win the fifth race on May 31, the $75,000 FL Lady Bug Stakes with Relentless Knockout, but getting within one victory of 918 Bloodstock was the best they would do. Alcala Ranch had three more chances in the seventh, ninth and 12th races, but their top finish in those races were third-place finishes by Kiss My Hat in the Boyd Morris Memorial Stakes (seventh race) and Jess A Good Angel, who ran third in the Grade 1 Heritage Place Futurity, but was only a head back of the two horses that dead-heated for the win.
The leading money earner for owners was not nearly as close. When Dunn Ranch (Matt Dunn) dead-heated in the Heritage Place Futurity with his winner, Apollirevenge, it propelled the ranch to the top earner with a total of $602,726. Apollirevenge’s win banked $342,498.
Finishing second in seasonal money was Alcala Ranch, who had a total of $409,264. Had Jess A Good Angel managed to win the Heritage Place Futurity, the two ranches would have switched places for the lead for earning by an owner.
