Springboard Mile Preview: Wide Open Scramble for Remington’s Top Prize

The $300,000 Springboard Mile, the richest race for 2-year-olds in the Remington Park Thoroughbred Season, pulled 12 entries this morning. The Springboard is the main event on a 12-race program that takes place on the final race date of the season, this Sunday, Dec. 11, starting at 3pm.

The winners of both of the major 2-year-old local preps for the Springboard Mile at Remington Park have entered to try and add the top trophy to their collection. U S Officer, winner of the $100,000 Clever Trevor Stakes on Nov. 4 and Cool Arrow, winner of the $75,000 Kip Deville Stakes on Sept. 25, will be joined by 10 other rivals in the 11th of 12 races on Sunday.

U S Officer has won two consecutive races at Remington Park after finishing a well-beaten seventh behind Cool Arrow in the Kip Deville. Trained by Danny Pish, U S Officer won going one mile for the first time, in an allowance race at Remington Park on Oct. 14. He then came back to score the Clever Trevor Stakes for owners Jerry Durant and Bill Jordan of Weatherford, Texas. Jockey David Cabrera has ridden U S Officer to both of his local wins and he will retain the mount for the Springboard.

Cool Arrow shipped from Kentucky to win the Kip Deville Stakes on the Oklahoma Derby undercard in late September. Trained by Joe Sharp for owners Brad and Misty Grady of Covington, Texas, Cool Arrow then ran a solid second in the $300,000 Spendthrift Stallion Stakes at Churchill Downs on Oct. 30. Jockey Luis Saez has been named to ride in the Springboard in what will be the first attempt longer than seven furlongs for Cool Arrow.

Top Choice

#12 Cool Arrow – Even though he will break from post twelve he just looks to be the most likely winner here.  I’m not sure if this is a special horse or a horse that will become a Kentucky Derby contender, but for this race today he looks like the right choice.  Two races back he came to Remington Park and very impressively won the Kip Deville Stakes, and last time out he finished second to Warrior’s Club in a 300k restricted race at Churchill Downs.  Warrior’s Club came back to finish third in the Kentucky Jockey Club against a solid field so that is a major positive for Cool Arrow.  At this point he might just be a little bit better than his competition in this race.

Horses to Use in Multi Race Wagers

#5 Totality – Broke his maiden at first asking at Churchill Downs, but was a non threating fifth in an allowance race next time out.  Based on that allowance race you wouldn’t think he’d be entered here so I think that fact he has been is very encouraging.  In two career starts he’s fallen way out of it early on and came with a late run down the stretch.  Hopefully he gets a fast pace in this spot, and can show his true talents.

#10 Equator – His debut race was a bit of a disaster at Keeneland, but he moved to Remington for his next start and ran fantastic as he won by three lengths at the mile distance which is what he’ll be running in this spot.  It looks to me like Asmussen has targeted this race with Equator all along, and that could be very dangerous for the rest of the field.  The breeding is very strong with this one so he could be ready to run a big one.

#2 Hallelujah Hit – You can’t ever count out owner/trainer C.R. Trout at Remington Park.  Last year he won the Oklahoma Derby with an Oklahoma Bred, and now he’ll try to win the biggest two year old race of the meet with another Oklahoma Bred in Hallelujah Hit.  The horse comes in on a two race win streak with both wins coming against state bred company.  We’ll see if he’s ready for deeper waters in this race.

#6 Young American – It took five races, but Young American finally broke his maiden last time out at Churchill Downs in stylish fashion.  If he repeats that race in this spot he could be very tough, however it’s hard to say if he can do that again or not.  His previous races where not close to the same caliber of his maiden winning score.  He’s another that comes from behind so his connections will be hoping for a strong pace.  Dangerous horse if he’s put it all together.

Exotic Players

#4 U S Officer – Narrowly defeated Rowdy Warrior two races back, and last time out won the final local prep race for this one by over two lengths.  He ran a strong race in that final prep, but when going a mile he wasn’t quite as fast.  He might be a little bit better going one turn so for that reason I’ve put him in this spot today.  We’ll see if he can prove me wrong.

#11 Rowdy Warrior – Lots of positives here with this Donnie K Von Hemel runner with the biggest one being he has a win over the distance.  He’s also ran three races at the distance so we can be confident he knows his way around the track.  The troubling sign is even though it’s been close he has been beaten two straight times by horses that are in this race.  That’s why I like him underneath at a decent price instead of on top.

Party Crashers

#7 Prados Way – Extremely intriguing entry for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.  The first two races of his career were runaway wins on the dirt at Lone Star and Albuquerque.  Then they moved him to the turf in tough stakes at Keeneland and Churchill Downs and it didn’t go well.  So the major question is…did the class hike hurt him or did the move to the turf hurt him?  It’s a very positive sign for me that he’s back on the dirt for this one, and if he gets ignored at the windows he’ll be worth a play.

Throw Outs

#1 Imma Wild Bling – He didn’t look like much until last time out when he dominated a Texas bred stakes race at Retama by over five lengths.  We’ll see if he can repeat that performance against open company and going longer.

#8 Cu Rahy – Wasn’t very successful against a couple of the local winners in two recent stakes races.  The only way I see things changing today is if the added distance is to Cu Rahy’s liking.  Since he’s by Curlin that seems possible, but I don’t see it helping him out enough.

#9 Raising Rumors – This is a hard one to get a read on as two races back he won a stakes race at Prairie Meadows, but last time out they ran him for a 50k tag.  He did win that race, but if they ran him for a tag how much do they really think of him?  I’m steering clear for now.

#3 My Golden Aura – Looks to be overmatched in this spot as he hasn’t been close to winning since breaking his maiden at Lone Star.  Might need a little class relief.