OKLAHOMA CITY – For the third time in the past four years, trainer Dee Keener was the first with trailers of horses passing through the Remington Park stable gate when they opened Monday morning. Today is the first day horses could be stabled at Remington Park for the upcoming 2026 American Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa season.
“I had six in the trailer I pulled,” said Keener, the three-time defending champion trainer at Remington Park. “A gal that works for me was pulling another nine head in the other trailer. We mostly brought in young horses that are getting ready for the first futurity (Oklahoma Futurity; finals scheduled for Saturday, March 21).”
The trials for the estimated $400,000 Oklahoma Futurity are on the schedule for Friday and Saturday, March 6 and 7.
Keener’s trailers came through the gates about 11 a.m. after a trip of nearly two hours from his home in Inola, Okla.
“I hope to have about 25 head at Remington Park by Thursday (when the track opens for official workouts),” he said. “I’ll send all 25 out to the track that day. These are mostly young horses that have been working really good at the farm.”
Keener will be looking for his fourth training title in a row at Remington Park, which is well short of the record nine in a row set by Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Famer Rodney Reed from 1995-2003.
Keener said Remington Park fans would see some of their favorites return for the 2026 meet, including stakes winners O Donovan Rossa and JC Speeding. O Donovan Rossa, now an 8-year-old Quarter Horse gelding is the three-time defending Champion Distance Horse of Meet at Remington Park.
“We will see how he runs as an 8-year-old and go from there,” said Keener. “He seems to like Remington Park.”
O Donovan Rossa, a gelded son of Apollitical Jess, from the Country Chicks Man mare Shanachee, is owned by Kelly Yother Equine and has won 13-of-46 races lifetime and earned $404,652. He is a multiple graded stakes winner. O Donovan Rossa won the Grade 2, $35,156 Remington Park Distance Challenge Stakes at 870 yards in 2025.
JC Speeding is cross-registered as a Paint and a Quarter Horse, and he is undefeated in four races at Remington Park where he competed as a Paint. The perfect season in Oklahoma City helped secure JC Speeding the crown as the American Paint Horse Association’s 2025 World Champion Running Horse.
The now 3-year-old gelding by Chilitos, from the High Rate of Return mare High Speed Kitty (QH) is owned by Planefun LLC. JC Speeding won the Victoria Ennis for Paints and Appaloosas on April 25 at Remington Park last year. He was also triumphant in the world’s richest race for the mixed-breed runners, the Grade 1 Speedhorse Graham Paint & Appaloosa Futurity on May 31. He set distance records for Paints in both of his stakes scores here last spring – 330 yards in the Ennis at :16.522 and 350 yards in the Speedhorse at :17.176.
At Remington Park, JC Speeding’s record was four wins from four starts for a bankroll of $119,341. He raced as a Quarter Horse once he left Remington Park last year and his record now includes five wins, a pair of seconds and one third from eight attempts for earnings of $263,497.
Horses will continue to arrive this week at Remington Park for the season that begins on March 5 and runs through May 30.
Remington Park has provided more than $402 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 runs from March 5 to May 30. 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 Remington Park
