The 25th anniversary for Remington Park will be highlighted by the Oklahoma Derby (gr. III), which returns to graded status this season.
The Remington Park Thoroughbred Season runs from Aug. 16 through Dec. 15 and includes a 32-stakes race schedule worth nearly $3.4 million. The $400,000 Oklahoma Derby is the top event of the season and leads a special Sept. 29 program worth more than $1 million.
The Oklahoma Derby Day card will also include: the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks, the $150,000 Remington Park Sprint Cup, the $100,000 Remington Green Stakes, and the first leg of the Remington Park 2-year-old stakes race triple, the $75,000 Kip Deville Stakes.
The Oklahoma Derby regains a grade III ranking this year for the first time since 2004. Contested at 1 1/8 miles, this year marks the 25th running of the event, first won by Clever Trevor in 1989. Politicallycorrect scored in the Oklahoma Derby in 2012.
The Remington Park season closes with 2-year-olds featured Dec. 15. The $250,000 Springboard Mile is the top stakes offering for the freshmen runners. The Springboard caps the 2-year-old stakes racing triple that begins with the Kip Deville at six furlongs in September, followed by the $100,000 Clever Trevor at seven furlongs Nov. 8, and then the Dec. 15 Springboard as the finale. Texas Bling captured the 2012 Springboard at outlandish odds of 128-1.
A new Remington Park stakes event will debut on the final day of the season. The $100,000 Trapeze will be run for the first time, featuring 2-year-old fillies at one mile.
The Remington Park turf course will be used extensively with eight stakes races. The Remington Green Stakes on the Oklahoma Derby undercard is the top open company turf race of the season.
The Remington Park stakes slate begins with a pair of events on the second night of the season. The $175,000 Governor's Cup at 1 1/8 miles and the $75,000 David M. Vance Sprint at six furlongs will lead the card Aug. 17.
The $1 million Oklahoma Classics, featuring eligible Oklahoma-breds in eight divisional stakes races, will be run Oct. 18. The $175,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup, at 1 1/16 miles, is the top event of the evening, followed by the $145,000 Distaff. A quartet of $130,000 races including the Turf, Distaff Turf, Sprint, and Distaff Sprint are also featured. The 2-year-olds round out the divisional Classics competition in the $100,000 Juvenile and $100,000 Lassie, for males and females, respectively.
Overall, 16 of the 32 events on the stakes schedule are worth a purse of at least $100,000.
The Remington Park season will feature a 7 p.m. CT post for the August evening race cards. The afternoon programs will begin at 1:30 p.m., including: Labor Day, Sept. 2; Oklahoma Derby Day, Sept. 29; Black Friday, Nov. 29; and Springboard Mile Day, Dec. 15.
The first post for the Remington Park races on Breeders' Cup Nov. 2, will be earlier than the normal evening start. The beginning of that live program will be announced once the Breeders' Cup schedule has been set.