Remington Park Press Release, edited by APHA; photos by Dustin Orona Photography/Remington Park
Remington Park in Oklahoma City kicked off Paint racing for 2019 with the Grade 1 $162,028 Oklahoma Paint & Appaloosa Futurity and the Grade 1 $61,100 Speedhorse Graham Paint & Appaloosa Derby. Two Paints—DTL Chasin Tale and Bullet Bonnie—started their season with a bang on March 23, clinching the first two major races of the year.
Grade 1 $162,028 Oklahoma Paint & Appaloosa Futurity
DTL Chasin Tale was a full length behind the front-runner in the Oklahoma Paint & Appaloosa Futurity with only 100 yards to go. He found a tremendous burst of speed to get to the wire first by a neck to capture victory.
The 2-year-old gelding, owned by DTL Teel Partnership of Skiatook, Oklahoma, never gave up, and jockey Cody Smith knew he had his work cut out for him with yards to go.
“The other filly that we qualified, Babe Wired, she left exceptional [just to his left in the 4-hole],” Cody said. “She left running. About halfway through the race though, I felt pretty confident that I had a lot of run and that I was going to get there.”
DTL Chasin Tale is 2017 bay solid gelding by Wagon Tales (QH) and out of Shez Showin Off; he is trained by Matt Whitekiller. It was the third time Matt had taken his photo in the winner’s circle for this race, having won the 2015 and 2016 futurities with Painted Turnpike and Paint Me Turnpike, respectively. Cody also rode those two previous winners.
DTL Chasin Tale earned $62,880 for his owner and now has banked $64,008 in only two lifetime starts.
“We’ve always liked this colt from the get-go,” Matt said about DTL Chasin Tale. “We came in here pretty green, and we didn’t get to gate those colts after we schooled them. But we figured we had a pretty good shot tonight.”
The winner stopped the timer for 300 yards in 15.630 seconds on a fast track and was a neck ahead of Heza Fancy PYC, who was another head in front of third-place finisher Babe Wired. DTL Chasin Tale was bred by Dean and Tonya Lester of Skiatook. Heza Fancy PYC is a 2017 bay tobiano stallion by Im A Fancy PYC (QH) and out of Sexy Senorita; he is owned by Charles Leggett of Muskogee, Oklahoma. Babe Wired, a 2017 sorrel solid mare by CRM Livewire and out of Biker Babe, is owned by Dan and Kaye Jones of Kemp, Texas.
Grade 1 $61,100 Speedhorse Graham Paint & Appaloosa Derby
Bullet Bonnie pulled the upset at 20-1 odds Saturday at Remington Park to win the Grade 1 $Speedhorse Graham Paint and Appaloosa Derby. The 3-year-old filly won by a neck over Memories Of Lil Hero.
Owned by Dee Keener and Steve Wright of Inola, Oklahoma, and trained by Dee, Bullet Bonnie was ridden by James Flores. The victory was the sixth of the night for the jockey, who jumped to the top of the rider standings at Remington Park with 13 wins.
Bullet Bonnie, a 2016 sorrel solid mare by Duke Kahanamoku (QH) and out of SW Eye Candy, was bred by her owners. She made $23,218 for her third career victory from eight lifetime starts. The win in her first attempt of 2019 moves her total bankroll to $36,776.
Memories Of Lil Hero, a 2016 brown solid gelding by Little PYC and out of Memories Of Texas, was second for owner Levings Racing LLC of Edmond, Oklahoma. Cap Attack was third, a half-length behind the winner; the 2016 sorrel tobiano gelding by Capo De Capi and out of Takin On Judy is owned by Planefun LLC of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
This was the second victory in the Speedhorse Graham Derby for Dee, as he also saddled PHQ Goodbye Earl to the win in 2017. James won the race for the second year in a row as he also rode Expressions N Snow to victory in 2018.
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