Shanon Nicole wins RP Oaks as Napravnik cleans up on
Oklahoma Derby undercard
While the Oklahoma Derby was the featured event on Sunday at
Remington Park, the
girls also had their turn in the spotlight on the undercard. Specifically, one
girl and one filly.
Jockey Rosie Napravnik sandwiched a win in the $200,000
Remington
Park Oaks aboard Shanon Nicole between an earlier victory in the Kip Deville
and a charging score in the Remington Park Sprint Cup to wrap up the card,
taking three of the six undercard stakes.
Napravnik and Shanon Nicole were much the best in the 1 1/16-mile Oaks,
slipping through along the rail rounding the final turn and drawing off in the
lane to finish 5 1/4 lengths clear. The duo posted a final time of 1:44 1/5 on
the fast dirt as the 5-2 second choice against seven rival fillies, and paid
$7.40 to their faithful backers.
Campaigned by Connie M. Apostelos, who named the filly after her daughter,
Shanon Nicole tried to compete against some of the best in her division earlier
this year but was well schooled on each occasion. The Majestic Warrior homebred
took a step down in class and captured the
Indiana Grand last out.
Now two-for-two in stakes, the Mike Maker-trained chestnut boosted her career
earnings to $377,083 and shows a 13-4-4-1 scorecard.
Napravnik had one more trip to the winner’s circle waiting for her, but she
and J. Kirk Robison’s Mico Margarita had to work for it in the $150,000
Remington Park Sprint Cup to close out the card.
The dynamic duo wore down unchallenged pacesetter Heitai in the shadow of the
wire to score by three parts of a length and complete six furlongs on the main
track in 1:09 1/5 for trainer Steve Asmussen. Mico Margarita lived up to his 7-5
favoritism and gave back $4.80 for his second straight stakes win following a 1
1/2-length victory in the Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial at
Mountaineer
on August 2.
The four-year-old chestnut son of Run Away and Hide also scored in the Oak
Hall Stakes over the spring at
Evangeline Downs,
for which he set a new track record of 1:08.37 for six furlongs, and owns a 4
1/2-length triumph in last year’s Carry Back. Mico Margarita improved his career
mark to 20-6-3-5 with Sunday’s win and has accumulated $480,251 in lifetime
earnings.
Kicking off the stakes action was the $75,000
Kip
Deville sending juveniles six furlongs on the main track. Clark Brewster’s
Bayerd was a romping 11-length maiden winner at
Saratoga but didn’t
have it so easy in this spot under Napravnik.
The Asmussen pupil dueled with the pacesetting Nublado through swift
opening splits of :21 4/5 and :44 2/5 down the backstretch, and was still
battling with that rival upon hitting the lane. Nublado never yielded, forcing
Bayerd to work for every inch he managed to eke out before finally crossing under
the wire one-length in front. The 3-5 favorite paid $3.20 for taking his stakes
debut in a final time of 1:09 4/5.
Bayerd is now 2-0-1 from three career starts, having run third in his opener
at the Spa. The bay son of Speightstown boosted his bankroll to $112,100 thanks
to the Kip Deville winner’s share.
One race after the Kip Deville, Greengrassofyoming got the best of 3-2 favorite Gentleman’s Kitten in the
$100,000
Remington Green by 1 1/4 lengths.
Trained by Michael Tomlinson for Patricia’s Hope LLC, the four-year-old Quest
gelding rallied from midpack to take over in the lane and complete nine furlongs
on the firm turf in 1:46 3/5. With Brian Hernandez Jr. aboard, the chestnut
returned $19.20 to his backer as the 8-1 fourth choice.
Greengrassofyoming earned his first stakes win from just his third try, and
improved his record to read 25-5-6-4, $240,494.
A pair of $50,000 also took place on the Oklahoma Derby undercard, and jockey
Jareth Loverberry piloted the back-to-back winners. Fast N Fine Lookin wired the
Flashy
Lady by 3 3/4 lengths under the rider, while Ridgeofstone just got up for a
three-quarter length victory in the
Ladies on the Lawn with Loverberry aboard.
Conditioned by owner C.R. Trout, Fast N Fine Lookin ran six furlongs on the
main track in 1:09 3/5 to score in her stakes bow. The Forestry sophomore
finished second in her debut at
Lone Star Park on June 1, broke her maiden by 4
3/4 lengths 19 days later at that venue and showed up at Remington for a 7
1/4-length wire job in an allowance on September 6. The bay filly shows a
4-3-1-0 line and doubled her earnings to $63,738 on Sunday.
Al and Bill Ulwelling’s Ridgeofstone scored a third straight win in the
Ladies on the Lawn, running 7 1/2 furlongs on the firm turf in 1:28 for trainer
Michael Biehler. The seven-year-old daughter of Sand Ridge was making her stakes
debut in this spot and now sports a 36-6-3-8, $121,546, career record.
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