Racing


Sam Crow Finally Gets Remington Park Stakes Victory
Sam Crow, under AQHA Racing champion jockey Ricky Ramirez, winning the $61,800 Mr Jet Moore Stakes(RG3) Thursday night at Remington Park.

© Dustin Orona Photography
Sam Crow Finally Gets Remington Park Stakes Victory

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK—APRIL 6, 2017—The talented gray gelding Sam Crow has had much success in his career, finishing out of the money in only two of his 18 starts.

However, Remington Park was a nemesis to him as he had finished second in all four of his stakes attempts in Oklahoma City until putting it all together to win the $61,800 Mr Jet Moore Stakes(RG3) for Oklahoma-breds.

In the past, Sam Crow had struggled to get a clean start, while also having some rotten luck. The 5-year-old, owned by Terry Baber of Burkburnett, Texas, actually won the initial $100,000 Sooner State Stakes in 2016. That is, until the event was declared a non-race do a starting gate mishap where some of the field was not released with the rest. In the redo three-weeks later, Sam Crow finished second… again.

The Mr Jet Moore victory was extremely sweet for the connections of Sam Crow, allowing Baber to finally breathe success at Remington Park. "It’s about time, he’s had a lot of hard luck running second."

Ridden by Ricky Ramirez, Sam Crow had a decent start that allowed him the opportunity to win. "He didn’t out break them but he broke with them and that was just enough to hold them off until the end. He ran powerful and beautiful. He kind of tried to prick his ears a little bit, I don’t know what he was looking at, so I got after him a bit. He ran good and finished strong."

The winning connections of Sam Crow accept the Mr Jet Moore Stakes trophy Thursday night at Remington Park.
© Dustin Orona Photography
Sam Crow is trained by Trey Wood who tried something different by using a flipping-halter on him. The equipment is meant to help keep the horse’s head facing forward as it is attached to the stall doors of the starting gate. Wood was apprehensive in using the equipment on a runner who had already made nearly a million dollars.

"We put a flipping halter on him. It was hard to do that after he’s made $900,000, you really hate changing things but we didn’t know what else to do to get him away from the gate. It seemed to help a little bit. He’s just a good horse."

The even-money wagering favorite, Sam Crow pulled clear over the 350 yards of the Mr Jet Moore to defeat Valiant Rogue by three-quarters of a length. Phoebesdynasty was a nose behind the runner-up for third. Sam Crow handled the measure in 17.346 seconds over the fast track.

Through 18 career starts, Sam Crow has now won six races while finishing second nine times, with one third-place effort. The son of Valiant Hero from the Chicks Beduino mare Bourbonstreetchick was bred in Oklahoma by Paris Wixon.

The Mr Jet Moore victory is worth $35,280 to Sam Crow who has now accumulated $960,377.

Runner-up Valiant Rogue races for AQHA Champion trainer Judd Kearl and owner Wyok Ranch LLC. Also by Valiant Hero, last year Grade 1 Rainbow Derby winner picked up $11,760 to boost his career mark to nearly $645,000. Rodrigo Vallejo was aboard the Oklahoma-bred 4-year-old from the Azoom mare Azoom Babe. Bollenbach Farms is the breeder.

Making her first start at Remington Park, third-place finisher Phoebesdynasty races for owner/breeder Kirk Goodfellow. Cody Reynolds saddled the FDD Dynasty daughter out of My Special Phoebe by Special Effort. Ridden by Mario Delgado the 4-year-old earned $6,488 for the effort.

Sam Crow payed $4 to win, $2.40 to place and $2.40 to show. Valiant Rogue, who defeated Sam Crow earlier this season in the Mighty Deck Three Stakes, paid $3.40 to place and $3 to show. Phoebesdynasty paid $6.40 to show.

Bye Byefreighttrain, I V Gone, Hearts Ona Hero, Bringin The Gray and Major Freight completed the field.

The Mr Jet Moore Stakes is named after the Oklahoma-bred, owned by the late Bob Moore, who won the initial Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos in southern California in 1972. Mr Jet Moore was also voted the American Quarter Horse Association’s World Champion for 1972.

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Tracked by over 119,000 fans on Facebook and 8,400 Twitter followers, Remington Park is the home of the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Futurity on Saturday, March 25. Remington Park has provided over $165 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Open daily at 10:30am with free parking and admission, Oklahoma City’s only Racetrack & Casino is located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District. For more information, reservations and group bookings please call 405-424-1000, 866-456-9880 or visit remingtonpark.com.