OKLAHOMA CITY, OK—MARCH 7, 2017—Remington Park’s 2017 live racing schedule begins this Friday night with the start of the 50-date American Quarter Horse & Mixed-breed Season. A dozen races were set in the racing office this morning with 106 horses entered to compete.

The Opening Night program is heavy with important trials for the initial Paint & Appaloosa futurity, and derby, of the season.

A pair of trials will be contested for the $30,000-added Speedhorse Graham Paint & Appaloosa Derby. The fastest 10 from the two 350-yard trials will move on to the final on March 25.

In the first of the two trials, the dead-heat winners from last year’s $239,000 Speedhorse Graham Futurity at Remington Park will square off in their 3-year-old debuts as Ivoriona faces PHQ Goodbye Earl.

Ivoriona, the regular registry 2016 World Champion Paint, ended her initial year of racing on a two-race win streak. She broke her maiden in her career debut at Remington Park in March 2016, setting a new 250-yard track record for Paints in the process. Owned by Mickey Johnson and Randy Hill of Lexington, Okla., the daughter of multiple stakes sire Ivory James is trained by Stacy Charette-Hill.

PHQ Goodbye Earl was voted the 2016 Champion 2-year-old Solid Paint-bred, thanks in large part to a pair of futurity scores at Remington Park. Trained by Dee Keener, the gelded son of Awesome Chrome won the $104,000 American Paint Classic in April here before the dead-heat victory to share the Speedhorse Graham Futurity with Ivoriona. PHQ Goodbye Earl is owned by Paint Horse Queens of Coweta, Okla.

The 2-year-old Paints and Appaloosas then move into the Opening Night spotlight over five trials for the Oklahoma Paint & Appaloosa Futurity. The 41 runners involved in those five trials, at 300 yards, will all be making their career debuts. The fastest 10 will move on to the $100,000 (estimated) final on March 25.

The other five races making up the Opening Night dozen are for Quarter Horses. A $10,000-level claiming race will open the season in race one followed by an Oklahoma-bred maiden special weight event in race two.

The final three races on Friday are comprised of another Oklahoma-bred maiden special weight race, a $25,000 allowance event and a starter allowance race worth $19,000. The purses for the five Quarter Horse races on Opening Night total $92,100.

The second night of the season, Saturday, March 11, is expected to feature at least 15 trial races for the historic Oklahoma Futurity. Then on Sunday, March 12, trials for the Oklahoma Derby will be conducted along with the initial stakes events of the season, including the Grade 2, $50,000 Eastex Stakes and the $61,800 Mighty Deck Three Stakes.

The first race on Opening Night this Friday is 6pm.

Saturday’s expanded program of Oklahoma Futurity trials will begin at 4pm. Then the final day of the Opening Weekend, Sunday, will start at 1:30pm.

Guests attending the Opening Weekend of racing at Remington Park may enter drawings to be eligible for big cash prizes, up to $777 and a 70-inch HDTV.

The 2017 American Quarter Horse Season at Remington Park will continue thru Saturday, June 3.

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Tracked by over 117,000 fans on Facebook and 8,300 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.