Tale of the Sale: Bargains Abound On Oklahoma Derby Card

While other tracks around the country are holding Super Saturdays this weekend, in Oklahoma City it’s all about Super Sunday. A 12-race card features 10 stakes race headlined by the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby. From beginning to end, the races feature horses with some interesting sales and home-bred history from the son of a Kentucky Oaks winner to successful pinhooks.

Read on to find out about a horse or two in each stakes race on the card whose past caught my eye.

Kip Deville Stakes (2YOs, 6 Furlongs) - The fourth most expensive horse at the Texas Thoroughbred 2-Year-Old sale earlier this year with a $110,000 price tag, Stupify (Twirling Candy) will be making his fourth career start in this race. The colt has won two of his three starts with his last start being a win at this track. He can be put in the pinhook success category as a $20,000 yearling at the 2017 Keeneland before bringing that six figure 2-year-old price.  Stupify will be going off as the 6-5 choice in the first stakes of the day.

STUPIFY'S BREEZE UP VIDEO

Flashy Lady Stakes (3YO+ Fillies and Mares, 6 Furlongs) – Sold for six figures the first two times she went through the ring, Dance Proposal (Divine Park) dropped down to a $25,000 price tag in January at Keeneland. Buying the 4-year-old for that price has proven to be a savvy move for owner Danny Caldwell, with the filly finishing first or second in seven of her eight starts this year and earning $102,255. She’ll be making her first stakes start since running eighth in the G2 Golden Rod at Churchill in 2016 and is coming into this race off a fifth-place finish in an allowance over this track in August.

E.L. Gaylord Memorial Stakes (2YO Fillies, 6 ½ Furlongs) – A filly who looks like she may have been the purchase of a lifetime on this card is Parade of Roses (New Year’s Day). A $1,200 purchase as a short yearling at Keeneland, so far she has won $25,925 in two starts – including a half-length win in early August. Parade of Roses’ dam Rose And Shine (Mr. Sekiguchi) was a stakes winner of nearly $400,000 and has two winners from two to race. Interestingly, her second dam also produced all winners from nine runners and her third dam produced seven winners from seven runners – including Grade 3 winner Princess Pietrina (Spectacular Bid). This filly’s fourth dam is graded stakes winner Miss Baja, who is the third dam of Grade 1 winner Peace and War (War Front).

Red Earth Stakes (3YO+, 7 ½ Furlongs on Turf) – A $45,000 OBS yearling purchase, Night Strike (Liaison) has done a lot of traveling in his life the Oklahoma-bred colt returning to his home state after going through the ring three times. Sold as a short yearling at Keeneland for $27,000 he proved to be an astute pinhook when bringing nearly double that in August the same year at the OBS sale. He then brought a closing bid of $40,000 as a 2-year-old but that wasn’t enough for a new buyer to bring him home. Night Strike was only off the board once in his first four starts at Remington, breaking his maiden in the listed Don C. McNeill Stakes last November before finishing fourth to Greyvitos (Malibu Moon) in the Remington Springboard Mile. He tried the Kentucky Derby trail earlier in this year in the G3 Lecomte Stakes and has had a fairly easy time of it since then with only four starts overall this year – including a win in a Remington allowance last time out. It should be noted that his two career wins have come at Remington Park with the colt winning $119,302 overall in his career – over 2.5 times his purchase price.

Liasion

David M. Vance Stakes (3YOs+, 6 Furlongs) – It’s not too often you see a horse hit his sales price almost perfectly with his earnings but that is exactly where Bryan Hawk’s Westfest (Unbridled’s Song) is coming into this race. Bred by SF Bloodstock in Kentucky, the 5-year-old was a $190,000 yearling purchase by Ben Glass in 2014 before starting his career for Bob Baffert and Gary and Mary West. He broke his maiden for the connections as a 3-year-old then moved around the country a bit before running under new ownership at Prairie Meadows two starts ago. The winner of three of his last six starts, the majority of his earnings have come this year with the horse sitting at $190,412 coming into the David M. Vance. It’s highly unlikely he’ll stay at this total for long, but it’s fun trivia to have with your friends.

Governor’s Cup (3YOs+, 1 1/8 Miles) – Going the opposite way of sales results, nearly half the Governor’s Cup is made up of homebreds. Perhaps the most nationally known is the Calumet-bred Hence (Street Boss), who is coming here after the G1 Woodward. Bred on an advertised fee of $10,000, the colt has already made that stud fee back over 77 times in his 16-race career. The darling of the south, Shotgun Kowboy (Kodiak Kowboy) has earned over $1.2 million in his career for breeder/owner/trainer C.R. Trout. The gelding has earned over 123 times the $10,000 advertised fee his sire stood for at Vinery in 2011 when he was conceived. Shotgun Kowboy will be making his first start since late May when he defeated Mubtaahij (Dubawi) In the Lone Star Park Handicap. One major unknown here is Popularity (Distorted Humor), who has won two of his three lifetime starts and is stepping up to stakes company for owner-breeders Gary and Mary West.

Shotgun Kowboy

Bob Barry Memorial Stakes (3YO+ Fillies and Mares, 7 1/2 F on Turf) – Gar Oil Corp. was smart when they decided to send Miss Natalie (Fistfite) to Into Mischief in 2013 and then keep the resulting foal bred on a $10,000 stud fee. Of course, Into Mischief stood for $100,000 in 2018 and according to Spendthrift last week is already fully booked in 2019. Natalie’s Mischief is now a 4-year-old with $133,421 in earnings but her residual value as a stakes placed future broodmare is probably quite a bit over that. Her dam is a multiple stakes winner – including Remington Park stakes – with a lot of blacktype in her family including G1 Preakness third-place finisher Senior Investment (Discreetly Mine).  Natalie’s Mischief has been knocking on the stakes door at Remington for a few years now, starting as a 2-year-old and a stakes win here will only enhance her value even more in the breeding shed.

Grade 3 Remington Park Oaks (3YO Fillies, 1 1/6 Miles) – This race has attracted a lot of high priced horses but none more expensive than China Horse Club’s Alberobello (Bernardini). A $475,000 Keeneland September yearling, she is very lightly raced but she has shown a lot of talent for trainer Todd Pletcher with two wins and two seconds from four starts. Even with no stakes attempts yet, she’s already hit the six-figure mark in earnings and comes into this race with victories at Saratoga and Keeneland. This is a large step up from allowance company with no fewer than three stakes winners in the field and multiple others having stakes placings. But Pletcher doesn’t often send them where they have no chance and the filly obviously has talent if her price tag and race record are any indication.

Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby (3YOs, 1 1/8 Miles) – This race doesn’t lack for good quality and well-bred colts but the best bred battle may be between $400,000 Keeneland purchase Wooderson (Awesome Again) and $900,000 Believe In Royalty (Tapit). A half-brother to Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, Wooderson is another Pletcher trainee who has taken it easy thus far with four starts – including a maiden victory two starts ago and allowance second at Saratoga last up. Out of Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can (Proud Citizen) and still co-owned by breeder Brereton C. Jones, Believe In Royalty has more experience and comes into this race off a win in the Ellis Park Derby. He does have some experience on this track, finishing sixth in the Springboard Mile Stakes last year but all signs are that he has improved since that start with a third and a first in two of his last three races.

Believe In Royalty with dam Believe You Can as a foal

Ricks Memorial Stakes (3YO+ Fillies and Mares, 1 1/16 Miles) – The final race of the night ends with another horse who has paid back her price tag many times over with Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Adore (Big Brown). A $15,000 Keeneland September Yearling in 2014, Adore was third in the G2 Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks in 2016 and had a victory in the listed Spotted Horse Stakes two starts out among her 18 career starts for $335,844 in earnings. That’s taken her to 22 times her sales price and 9.5 times Big Brown’s advertised stud fee in 2012. The final runner for Steve Asmussen on this card, she goes off as the 5/2 morning line favorite.