All Equine All The Time

Springboard Mile winner Long Range Toddy The Springboard Mile was the biggest race of the day at Remington Park on Sunday but it was only one part of an interesting card. From a Springboard Mile prep race providing the industry with some top horses to a foreign country having a great day in New Mexico, here are five things we learned from the Springboard Mile card. Take Charge Indy Strikes Again – Take Charge Indy (A.P. Indy) has proven to be a nice up-and-coming sire with eight stakes winners from his first two crops and runners in both the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks in his first crop. Listed Springboard Mile winner Long Range Toddy spearheads his second crop as his only 2-year-old stakes winner, but he has had two stakes placed 2-year-olds in Cover Charge and Pole Setter as well. It’s rare that a horse returns to the United States for stud duties after being sold abroad but there were talks about bringing the horse back earlier this year . He is still in So...

The final day of the 2018 Remington Park Thoroughbred meet proved to be a history maker in more ways than one for the track. The day included six stakes races and a dedication of a statue of one of Remington Park’s most famous runners. But first, Uncail (Uncle Mo) got the show started in spectacular style when he broke his maiden by 10 ¼ lengths in his eighth lifetime start to get the card started. The second race fittingly saw Donnie Von Hemel in the winner’s circle. Von Hemel trained Clever Trevor (Slewacide) and had spent earlier that week telling me how the Oklahoma-bred gelding had affected his early training career. Later that day, Clever Trevor's saddling paddock statue was to be dedicated. After taking a quick break to grab a bit at Henry Hudson’s where I had a view of the track – and Steve Asmussen tying his own single season win record, then breaking it – for the next few races, it was time to see the dedication of Clever Trevor’s statue. An amaz...

Santana Jr and Hence winning the Governor’s Cup When Ricardo Santana Jr. rides on Sunday’s Remington Park card, it will end an exciting week for the jockey. Last Saturday he welcomed his first daughter into the world. He returned to the saddle on Thursday at Fair Grounds but admits flying to Remington for nine rides – including Bankit in the Springboard Mile – will be hard. “It’s pretty hard but this is my job and this is what I have to do,” he said. “I know that when she’s older she will know what my job is. It’s pretty hard to take some time off but it’s also hard to be away from her.” With nine mounts Sunday, Santana Jr. hopes to replicate or even better the day he had on the Oklahoma Derby card where he won five races. He’ll be back on a few of those winners Sunday with Adore and Hence both trying to win back-to-back Remington stakes. While Hence has run since his Governor’s Cup Stakes victory, Adore is returning to the race for the first time post-victory. His ...

While we all know that racing can be hard on your wallet, one of the things I enjoy doing on big stakes days is seeing how much horses have paid back their connections. Have they made back their purchase price, are they right on the cusp of making it back, or are they not holding up their end of the deal? For this piece, I looked at the homebreds, least expensive, and most expensive horses in every stakes race on Remington’s Sunday card to see where each category sits. Interestingly, nearly all of them have earnings over their original price or are close to getting to that point. Note: This doesn’t take in to account private purchase prices or claiming prices after the horse was sold from the original buyer or the various other expenses (breaking bills, training bills, ect) the horses incurred after they left the ring or their breeder paid the stud fee.   USEEIT STAKES 3YO Oklahoma-Bred Fillies Going One Mile On Dirt Tizway Homebred: Three Chords (Euroears) – Bred...

Remington Park A winner of the Sleepy Hollow Stakes at Belmont Park in October, Bankit is one of the favorites for this weekend’s Springboard Mile after a five race campaign that saw him win at two of New York’s biggest tracks. The colt will be working to go one better than stablemate Combatant, who finished second in the Springboard Mile in 2017. Combatant went on to   run in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby last May. Already having five starts under his belt, Bankit is coming into the race in fine form according to co-owner Winchell Thoroughbreds’ manager David Fiske, who says there are similarities between the two colts. “Bankit is doing great, he’s had a remarkably mishap free 2-year-old year. He is very sound and very happy and he kind of likes doing what he’s doing. He’s doing good,” Fiske said. “They’re sort of similar in that they’re both real sound and kind of workmanlike and there’s nothing real flashy about them.” Both are also owned by Winchell Thoroughbre...

Clever Trevor winning the  inaugural Oklahoma Derby (Reed Palmer/Remington Park) When Clever Trevor entered Donnie Von Hemel’s barn as a 2-year-old in 1988, he showed exceptional talent that had those working with him if perhaps they had gotten an older horse. “After a couple weeks we were all thinking ‘this might actually be a 3-year-old because there are no 2-year-olds that can hang with him,’” Von Hemel said. “Of course when we got the foal papers in and made sure everyone was who they were and thought ‘I think we got ahold of something here’. I don’t know that we imagined he’d be a Grade 1 winner or anything like that but we felt he was going to be a very nice horse and boy did he fulfill.” Clever Trevor was about to take his connections on the ride of a lifetime over the next five seasons, winning six of his starts at two before stepping up to the national level and finishing a good second in the Grade 2 Arkansas Derby. A Kentucky Derby runner in 1989, Cleve...