Dee Keener entered 16 of 99 two-year-olds in Remington Park's Schooling Races, set for Wednesday, February 12.

© Dustin Orona Photography/Remington Park

by Richard Linihan

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK–FEBRUARY 7, 2025–As is often the case, the top two trainers in history for Paints and Appaloosas, Dee Keener and Matt Whitekiller, have the most entries for opening day of training races scheduled for Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Remington Park.

Keener has entered 16 horses for the first schooling races, nine Paints and seven American Quarter Horses, while all 15 of Whitekiller’s entries are Paints. The first five races of the training race day are for mixed breeds, although no Appaloosas were entered. There are a total of 13 races set for Wednesday, the last eight schooling events are for Quarter Horses.

Keener has won the training title at Remington Park for the past two years. The Inola, Oklahoma native runs all breeds during the meet. A total of 99 horses have been entered in the schooling events. Rhonda Valdivia, the top Quarter Horse trainer at Fair Meadows in Tulsa, Okla., last summer, and Juvenal Licona-Vazquez are next with the most entries with six apiece.

Training races are designed to get 2-year-old Quarter Horses, Paints, and Appaloosas ready and approved for racing at Remington Park. The season will open Thursday, March 6. Last year, the likes of $1 million Heritage Place Futurity winner Kempton won a training race at Remington Park on Feb. 21 by three-quarters of a length before his first official race.

Schooling races can also be a prophecy of things to come in the meet and a good place to discover longshots. The Paint named Painted to Be Quick won one of the fastest training races of the meet on February 22 last year by 2-1/4 lengths in a time of 13.54 for the 250-yard race she tried for Whitekiller.

In comparison, Kempton won his in :13.85. In fact, Painted to Be Quick won her training race against Quarter Horses, which is always impressive. Believe it or not, she came back to win the Grade 1, $161,600 American Paint Classic Futurity against Paints at 42-1 odds.

Keener had identical 37-win seasons at Remington Park in both 2023 and 2024. Whitekiller and trainer Jason Olmstead tied for second in last year’s standings with 27 victories each.

Olmstead didn’t enter any horses in the first day of training races, as is his pattern. He prefers to wait until a bit later in the spring for his 2-year-olds to debut.

Keener is the all-time winningest Paint trainer in the history of that breed. Since 2019, however, Keener has been equally successful with Quarter Horses. Keener has had four Quarter Horses that have won graded stakes races at Remington Park – EC Revenge (Grade 2 Oklahoma Futurity in 2019); Dreamsville (Grade 2 Remington Park Derby in 2022); O Donovan Rossa (Grade 2 Pauls Valley Stakes in 2023-24, Grade 2 Remington Park Distance Challenge in 2024 and the Grade 3 SLM Big Daddy Stakes in 2022), and Tres Crystals, who gave him his first Grade 1 in the $1 million Heritage Place Futurity in 2022.

ABOUT REMINGTON PARK
Remington Park has provided more than $375 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, Remington Park presents year-round simulcast racing and casino gaming. The 2025 American Quarter Horse Season will begin on March 6. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.

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