OKLAHOMA CITY – Flying Bandida shot out of the gate Saturday like she had been goosed and never looked back, winning the Grade 2, $56,400 Decketta Stakes with ease at 15-1 longshot odds.
The even-money favorite at post time, Alliekat Dynasty, was scratched at the gate after she reacted adversely to Catchn Southern Rays acting up prior to start with the field in the gate. When Catchn Southern Rays began tossing back and forth from left to right, Alliekat Dynasty joined in the madness and it led to her sitting down in the gate. She was then scratched from the field of stakes runners.
The scratch may not have mattered the way the amazing 4-year-old gray mare Flying Bandida burst from the gate under jockey Ramiro Garcia. She blew this field away by two full lengths in a time of :17.615 over a fast track at 350 yards. Another longshot, Baby Ruth (13-1), got up for second and the new favorite in the race, Jessies First Card (7-5), finished third.
Trainer Jason Olmstead, who has won the first two stakes races of the meet, said he knew Flying Bandida was special despite some of her poor performances on her form.
“When she was 2 and 3 years old, she would qualify to the finals of everything we put her in and then she would have some bad luck in the finals,” Olmstead said. “I told Shari (Burger) and Vickie (McBee) – the owners – to give me one more year where she didn’t have to run in any more trials because I knew she would run her best race when the lights shine brightest.”
That’s what she did Saturday night and Garcia didn’t expect anything less.
“Like always,” he said, “she tried her best. We got lucky tonight. She was ready with her quick reflexes when they popped the gate and I never worry about her finishing. That is always there.”
Flying Bandida, an Oklahoma-bred daughter of Flying Cowboy 123, out of the PYC Paint Your Wagon mare Meaningful Memories, won a stakes race for the first time in her career, despite being all around it in 21 tries. She was multiple stakes placed coming into this event. Flying Bandida won her Remington Park Oaks trial last year on April 6, but ran fourth in the finals. She was the runner-up in the Altoona Derby at Prairie Meadows in Iowa and also ran second the year before at age two in the Prairie Meadows Gold Futurity.
“I always knew she was something special,” said Burger, who also bred her. “She is a dream come true. Tonight, she did shine.”
Flying Bandida paid a whopping $32 to win on a $2 ticket, $11.40 to place and $7.80 to show. She earned $33,600 for the victory and improved her lifetime record to 21 starts, six wins, six seconds and two thirds for $196,436 earned.
There were multiple cash drawer explosions in the exotic wagering for this race. The 15-1 winner and the 13-1 runner-up combined for a $2 exacta payout of $321.60, and keyed a 50-cent trifecta return of $304.55. The biggest payout that Flying Bandida was the key component in was the late Pick 4 that paid $2,015.70.
The winner earned a speed index of 89 with her finishing time. The rest of the order of finish for this race after the top three was Eyesa Wagon My Tale (3-1) fourth, Catchn Southern Rays (6-1) fifth, Peppa (9-1) sixth, Amber Alerrt (24-1) seventh, Karmas a Chick (29-1) eighth and Flying Nova 123 (5-1) ninth.
The win in the Decketta was the first for all the connections of Flying Bandida.
Remington Park racing continues Sunday, March 15 with a first post time of 4 p.m.-Central.
Remington Park has provided more than $408 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. The 2026 Remington Park American Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa Season is underway. The 85th Oklahoma Futurity will be contested on Saturday, March 21. Remington Park presents year-round simulcast racing and casino gaming. Guests must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or to enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
Courtesy of Richard Linihan, Remington Park
