Hit Show, Red Route One to Duel in Oklahoma Derby

Adding blinkers following a fifth-place finish in the slop in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course, Gary and Mary West’s Hit Show is the 3-1 morning-line favorite against a dozen other 3-year-olds in the $400,000 Oklahoma Derby (G3) Sept. 24 at Remington Park.

Two horses in the 1 1/8-mile race are cross-entered in other races this weekend.

Winner of the Withers Stakes (G3) this winter at the same distance at Aqueduct Racetrack, Hit Show was later second in the Wood Memorial Stakes (G2) before competing in two legs of the Triple Crown. He finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and fourth in a dead heat in the Belmont Stakes (G1) in his races before the Jim Dandy.

Trainer Brad Cox has named Flavien Prat to ride the winner of three of eight races and $574,375. Hit Show breaks from the outside post.

The field’s leading money earner with a $1,053,025 bankroll is Red Route One , who captured the West Virginia Derby (G3) in his last start on dirt. Most recently, he failed to fire in finishing eighth on grass at Kentucky Downs in the Dueling Grounds Derby (G3) for owner Winchell Thoroughbreds.

Red Route One is one of two starters in the field for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who also starts Kirk and Judy Robison’s dual stakes winner How Did He Do That .

Tumbarumba , Raise Cain and Cagliostro are other leading contenders.

With post time at 7:48 p.m. CT, the Remington Park Derby is the 10th and final race on a special Sunday program.

Facts And Figures:

Jockey Joel Rosario, aboard Red Route One, is a two-time Oklahoma Derby winner, having won the race previously with Pleasant Prince (2010) and Warrant (2021).

Cox bids for his fourth win in the Oklahoma Derby after winning three straight in 2019-21 with Owendale , Shared Sense , and Warrant, respectively.

Asmussen won the Oklahoma Derby previously in 2017 with Untrapped .

Entries: Oklahoma Derby (G3)

Remington Park, Sunday, September 24, 2023, Race 10

Grade III
1 1/8m
Dirt
$400,000
3 yo
7:48 PM (local)

Merlazza Favored in Remington Park Oaks

Cox also has the likely public choice in the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks (G3), which precedes the Oklahoma Derby at 7:14 p.m., starting Don Alberto Stable’s 2-1 morning-line choice Merlazza in the 1 1/16-mile race.

A three-time winner and a stakes winner at Oaklawn Park in the spring, she has been off the board in her past three starts, though she has managed close fourth-place finishes in her past two outings. Prat rides.

The speedy Ancient Peace , who raced in Southern California earlier this year, also looms a threat, as does Honor D Lady , who was last of 10 over soft turf in the Saratoga Oaks Invitational Stakes (G3T) in her previous outing.

Six other stakes races complement the Sunday card at Remington.