A blast of cold northern air swept over Remington Park in Oklahoma City for the Sunday afternoon program on March 16. Strong tailwinds measuring between 21- and 26 miles-per-hour throughout the day assisted a pair of new 330-yard record holders.
In the opening race of the day, a maiden allowance race for Paints & Appaloosas, Call Him Awesome scorched his 330 yards in 16.661 seconds. The move established a new Remington Park 330-yard standard for Paints and Appaloosas, shaving .006 off the 2011 record set by Captain Bucko (ApHC).
Call Him Awesome, a 3-year-old sorrel solid Paint-bred gelding, broke his maiden in his 10th career start for owners JNL Horse Farm and Francisco Villarreal of McAllen, Texas. Call Him Awesome finished third in the Grade 1 $249,000 Speedhorse/Graham Farms Paint & Appaloosa Futurity at Remington Park last year. He is trained by Christian Rubalcava and was ridden by Berkley Packer.
Call Him Awesome has now finished in-the-money in seven of his 10 career attempts, with his lone win, one second-place run and five finishes in third. He is an Oklahoma-bred by Awesome Chrome from the Ronas Ryon (QH) mare Ryans Call (QH).
In the 10th and final race of the afternoon, This Candys Awesome (QH) won the $28,300 allowance feature at 330 yards in :16.344 seconds over a muddy track. The clocking knocked .04-seconds off the 2011 mark set by Jess Special Candy (QH).
Owned and bred in Oklahoma by Carl Pevehouse of Ratliff City, Oklahoma, and trained by Clint Crawford, This Candys Awesome won under G.R. Carter. The 3-year-old filly edged Send Me This Wagon (QH) by a neck with The Red Onion (QH) another 1-1/4 lengths back in third.
The wagering favorite at 2-1 odds, This Candys Awesome returned $6.20 to win, $3 to place and $2.40 to show. Send Me This Wagon paid $3 to place and $2.40 to show. The Red Onion paid $3.40 to show.
The win was the third from five career attempts for This Candys Awesome and her second at Remington Park. She is a daughter of PYC Paint Your Wagon from the Mr Jess Perry mare Jess Send Candy. The first-place check of $16,998 moves her career earnings to $48,691.
The 2014 American Quarter Horse & Mixed-Breed Season continues March 20-23 at Remington Park. Racing begins at 6 p.m. all nights except for Sunday, when matinee racing is underway at 1:30 p.m. The Grade 2 $370,000 Oklahoma Futurity headlines the action next week on Saturday evening.