The Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby is not the only race at Remington Park on Sept. 24 that expects to feature a Grade 1 stakes winner in the starting gate. The $200,000 Remington Park Oaks is the likely next start for Champagne Room, winner of the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in 2016.
Trained by Peter Eurton, Champagne Room has been in training over the summer for her return to racing. The 3-year-old filly by Broken Vow from the Bernstein mare Lucky To Be has only one start in 2017, a third-place effort in the Grade 2 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. in February.
The Remington Park Oaks would be just the second start for Champagne Room since pulling an upset at 33-1 odds to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last year, also at Santa Anita.
Champagne Room posted a bullet six-furlong work at Santa Anita on Sept. 11 in 1:13 over a fast track. She may be part of a large contingent of horses to be flown from California in midweek, arriving in Oklahoma City a few days prior to the Oklahoma Derby Day card on Sunday.
Others on the list of 29 fillies that may contest the Remington Park Oaks include: Ever So Clever, winner of the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes in April at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. before running ninth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. in May; and Torrent, fourth behind Ever So Clever in the Fantasy before she ran fourth in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore in May.
Torrent was second in December 2016 in the $100,000 Trapeze Stakes, Remington Park’s top 2-year-old event for fillies.
The prospective field for the Remington Park Oaks will continue to take shape in the coming days. Contenders for all 10 of the stakes races on Oklahoma Derby Day are expected to ship to Oklahoma City within the next week, joining those already stabled here. The Oklahoma Derby Day program will be compiled in the Remington Park racing office on Thursday, Sept. 21.
The robust stakes schedule on Sunday, Sept. 24 includes:
– Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby, 3-year-olds, 1-1/8 miles
– $200,000 Remington Park Oaks, 3-year-old fillies, 1-1/16 miles
– $175,000 Governor’s Cup, 3 and older, 1-1/8 miles
– $150,000 David M. Vance Stakes, 3 and older, 6 furlong
– $100,000 Remington Green Stakes, 3 and older, 1-1/8 miles (turf)
– $75,000 Kip Deville Stakes, 2-year-olds, 6 furlongs
– $75,000 Ricks Memorial Stakes, fillies & mares, 3 and older, 1-1/16 miles (turf)
– $50,000 Flashy Lady Stakes, fillies & mares, 3 and older, 6 furlongs
– $50,000 Red Earth Stakes, Oklahoma-breds, 3 and older, 7-1/2 furlongs (turf)
– $50,000 Bob Barry Memorial, Oklahoma-bred fillies & mares, 3 and older 7-1/2 furlongs (turf)
(from Remington Park news release)