OKLAHOMA CITY – Several top trainers sent stakes winners to the Remington Park racing surface over the past few days, gaining official works prior to the season opening on March 5. Among the top-flight horses included last year’s winner of the $868,455 Remington Park Futurity – Jamies Sin Tacha.
The 3-year-old Oklahoma-bred gelding got up by a nose in the Remington Park Futurity, a restricted Grade 1 for Oklahoma-breds, to win $347,382, handing Entice Me Ona Monday the first loss of his career.
Jamies Sin Tacha worked out Sunday at 220 yards and worked a leisurely :13.30 over a fast track. The bullet workout for that distance was :12.21. He is owned by Miguel A. Vargas and was bred in Oklahoma by Monty McNair.
Other stakes winners that worked out this weekend were As Moonflash, Js Freightrain and Catchn Southern Rays, all for different conditioners.
As Moonflash, a 5-year-old Oklahoma-bred mare trained by Leo Alcala, worked 220 yards on Saturday in :13.07, handily. The bullet work at that distance was :12.44. As Moonflash, a winner of 6-of-10 lifetime for $134,099 in earnings has won three stakes races since leaving Remington Park in 2024. As a 2-year-old in 2023, she won a Remington Park Futurity trial, but did not race in the final. She went on that year to win an All American Futurity trial, but did not qualify for that final. Last year she won three stakes at two tracks – the Selma Stakes and Grade 3 Retama Championship Challenge at Retama Park on July 3 and Aug. 15 in Selma, Texas, just outside San Antonio. The mare also won the Miss Ellen Stakes on Oct. 12 at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla.
On Sunday, other than Jamies Sin Tacha, Catchn Southern Rays worked 220 yards and Js Freightrain covered 250 yards in morning efforts. Catchn Southern Rays, a 4-year-old Oklahoma-bred filly racing for trainer Stacy Charette-Hill, stopped the timer in :13.20, handily. Her best race at Remington Park came in the Heritage Place Juvenile Stakes on June 1, 2024 when she was the runner-up. Her black-type win came in the Black Gold Futurity on Nov. 12, 2024 at WRD. Catchn Southern Rays, by Apollitical Jess, out of the PYC Paint Your Wagon mare Mary Paintyourwagon, is owned and was bred by Leann J. Burns. Catchn Southern Rays’ record is 15 starts, six wins and two seconds for $301,704 in earnings.
Js Freightrain, a 4-year-old Oklahoma-bred filly by Freighttrain B, out of the Apollitical Jess mare As and Js, has won 6-of-12 starts for a bankroll of $208,027 and is in the Alcala barn. She also has two seconds and one third. Alcala, who bred this filly, owned her dam As and Js, an earner of $531,134. As and Js won the Junos Request Stakes at Remington Park on June 1, 2019.
Js Freightrain worked 250 yards Sunday in :13.89, handily from the gate. That compares to the bullet work of the day in :13.51, handily from the gate.
Two Days of Training Races: Feb. 18 & 19
A total of 25 training races, spread over two days, will take place Wednesday, Feb. 18 and Thursday, Feb. 19. There are a total of 198 horses entered for schooling races this week as trainers get their first-time starters prepared to run their first official races of their careers.
Two-time Heritage Place Futurity-winning trainer Trey Wood will send out 20 horses over the two days of training races. The action will begin at 11am each day.
Wood won Remington Park’s million-dollar cornerstone race for 2-year-old American Quarter Horses in 2012 with BP Cartels Alibi and in 2013 with Big Biz Perry. Both horses went on to win their All American Futurity trials with BP Cartels Alibi the only one of those two to run in the final of that race, the top event for 2-year-old Quarter Horses each year. BP Cartels Alibi finished seventh in the All American Futurity final. Wood actually won the All American Futurity last year with King of the Tide, who is now four-for-six lifetime with $1,595,087 banked.
Wood was Remington Park’s top trainer in 2017 with 42 winners. It was his sole training title here. He has 10 starters in schooling races Wednesday and 10 on Thursday.
Trainer Sammy Valdivia also has 10 entered for Wednesday with six more on Thursday.
Trainers have entered 95 horses on Wednesday in 12 races and another 103 on Thursday in 13 races. Other trainers with at least five head contesting Wednesday’s training races are Clint Crawford (7), Jed Vane (6), Salimm Hernandez (5), Jose Lopez (5), Luis Villafranco (5), and Rodrigo Covarrubias (5). On Thursday that list includes Matt Whitekiller (7), Jed Vane (7), Josue Garcia (7), Fernando Manriquez (6), Leo Alcala (5), and Dee Keener (5).
Remington Park has provided more than $407 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 begins March 5. 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 Dale Day
