OQHRA

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK—MARCH 19, 2016—The main event Saturday night at Remington Park was the $52,035 SLM Big Daddy Stakes at 550 yards. Dashin For A Prize tested the distance for the first time and handled it well in scoring by a half-length.

Owned by Oscar Moreno of Laredo, Texas and trained by Javier Contreras, Dashin For A Prize was ridden by AQHA Racing Champion jockey Ricky Ramirez. The 5-year-old gelding had struggled with good, clean starts at times in his career but maturity and a change in equipment has produced positive results.

“I rode him before about a year ago at Hialeah and he didn’t get away too sharp for me,” Ramirez recalled. “He’s been known for not breaking out of the gate very good. The owner and trainer pulled the blinkers off of him and it seemed to help. He was doing what I wanted and he just stayed in front. I was riding him pretty hard to keep him busy but he led the whole way from the word go.”

Dashin For A Prize left the gate well, found the lead quickly and held off rallies by Specials Jess and Admiral Zoomwalt to hit the finish in :26.573 seconds a 110 speed index over the fast track. Specials Jess was a half-length better than Admiral Zoomwalt for the minor awards.

Dashin For A Prize was the betting favorite at 6-5 odds and paid $4.60 to win, $3.60 to place and $2.40 to show. Specials Jess paid $5.80 to place and $3.80 to show. Admiral Zoomwalt returned $4 to show.

The SLM Big Daddy Stakes win was the sixth from 23 career starts for Dashin For A Prize and it was his second overall win at Remington Park. A Louisiana-bred son of Heza Fast Dash from the Oak Tree Special mare Fast Prize Angie, Dashin For A Prize made $29,730 for the stakes win to run his lifetime total to $274,180. Phillip Deville is the breeder.

Making his first start of the season, Special Jess picked up $11,010 for effort. Owned by Alexia Mehrle and trained by Kasey Willis, the Spit Curl Jess gelding broke out at the start and bumped before jockey Cesar Gomez got him straightened out to finish second. A.C. Taylor bred the multiple stakes-placed earner of $72,485 in Oklahoma from the Make It Anywhere mare Special Anywhere.

Admiral Zoomwalt, a stakes wining son of Shazoom, races for owner Terry McLean and trainer Gerry McLean. James Flores was aboard to earn $6.055. Mike Nobles and Christine Hudson bred Admiral Zoomwalt from the First Down Dash mare Tellin It All.

Rocketair, Mixed Fantasy, Painted Josy, First Prize Dive, Im The Key, Also A Feature and Cjs Rocksolid completed the field.

The SLM Big Daddy Stakes is named in honor of one of the most popular horses in Remington Park history. SLM Big Daddy was a multiple stakes winner over three years in the late 1990s here as well as a back-to-back American Quarter Horse Association World Champion in 1997 and 1998.

Trainer Matt Whitekiller and jockey Cody Smith teamed up for winning triples early in the Saturday program, winning three of the first four races. SM Sign Of Snow ($44 to win) in race one, Lajollas Lil Ms Big ($3.80) in race two and Cotton Beck ($13.20) in race four provided the triples for the pair.

The Remington Park racing week wraps up with a Fiesta at the Park on Sunday afternoon. Racing begins at 1:30pm(central) and features authentic music, food and drink specials.

Open daily for casino gaming and simulcast racing, Remington Park features the Bricktown Brewery on the casino floor. Admission, general parking and valet parking are always free at Remington Park, home of the historic $414,000 Oklahoma Futurity. The 75th running of the oldest futurity in Quarter Horse racing takes place on Saturday, March 26, 2016.

Tracked by over 94,000 fans on Facebook and 7,000 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided over $146 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Oklahoma City’s only Racetrack & Casino and is located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District. For more information, reservations and group bookings please call 405-424-1000, 866-456-9880 or visit remingtonpark.com.