Trainer Matt Whitekiller is one of several trainers who have multiple horses in the upcoming training races at Remington Park this week.

Dustin Orona Photography/Remington Park

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK–FEBRUARY 25, 2025–Three days of training races have been scheduled for Remington Park this week–Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Trainer Matt Whitekiller is looking for an answer to the question of whether he can pass his former boss, legendary, late, great Lewis Wartchow, in the record books this meet in one category.

Trainer Trey Wood is the answer to another question – whose barn door will swing open the widest on Tuesday, as he has entered 19 horses in 14 training races that begin at 11 a.m. That is the starting time for all three days of these schooling events for 2-year-old Quarter Horses, Paints, and Appaloosas preparing for their career debuts. The actual 2025 race meet for these breeds begins at Remington Park on Thursday, March 6.

Severe winter weather has knocked out several scheduled schooling races and workout mornings at this Oklahoma City track. There has been only one training race date thus far, and that was on Monday, Feb. 17. After Tuesday, there are 10 races slated for Wednesday and nine more on Thursday. The first three races on Tuesday are for mixed breeds – Paints and Appaloosas – and the rest are Quarter Horse. All training races are 250 yards, with the horses breaking from the gate.

Whitekiller, always a prominent top-five trainer at Remington Park, will try to find out which horses among the juveniles in his stable can fly down the track, especially his next great Paint or Appaloosa. This 59-year-old trainer, originally from Sallisaw, Okla., and now a Gans, Okla. resident, will try to build on his reputation this meet as one of the top conditioners going annually at Remington Park for all these breeds.

Last year, Whitekiller added to his accolades when he won the Oklahoma Paint and Appaloosa Futurity when Wire Transfer gave him his fifth win in this Grade 1 stakes. That tied him for most wins in the stakes series with the legendary Wartchow, who was known as the King of the Paints for decades. Whitekiller will try to find his next winner in this event when he sends out this slew of training racehorses.

It was a proud moment for Whitekiller, tying Wartchow because he made his training bones as an assistant to the legend. Jockey L. Salvador Martinez was in the saddle for Whitekiller when Wire Transfer earned the huge win. That filly is owned by Robin Haggard, who recently won multiple racing awards at the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association banquet this past Saturday night.

A total of 24 trainers will send out 111 horses for Tuesday’s training races. All but one of the 14 events have eight horses entered. The fourth race only has seven horses carded.

Whitekiller proved to be an enormous success in this business when he trained the multiple World Champion Paint, Painted Turnpike, who raced for owners Nolan D. Pevehouse and Whitekiller. The multiple World Champion Paint Horse won 26-of-31 lifetime races and earned $465,442, a massive amount of money in this breed of racing.

“It meant an awful lot to me,” Whitekiller said in the winner’s circle with Wire Transfer last year, tears beginning to form in his eyes. “He (Wartchow) was such a father figure to me. I’m sure if he were still around (tying this record) would not have been the case for me. His five would have been about 10.”

Whitekiller sends out two juveniles on Tuesday whose sire is Painted Turnpike – Icy Turnpike in the second schooling race for mixed breeds and Kiss Me Turnpike in the third race.

Icy Turnpike is a filly out of the CRM Livewire mare Sparkling Moondust. She is owned and was bred in Oklahoma by Luke and Tracy Toyebo of Anadarko, Okla.

Kiss Me Turnpike is an Oklahoma-bred son of Painted Turnpike from the SF Royal Quick Flash mare SB Kiss This Goodbye. He is owned by Bryan Hawk of Shawnee, Okla., who last fall won his first top owner title at Remington Park among the thoroughbred breed.

One side note: speaking of CRM Livewire. In 2024, CRM Livewire took over at the top of the Paint racing millionaire sires list, becoming the No. 1 lifetime sire of Paint racehorses by money earned. CRM Livewire, who stands as a stallion for Hawk, had offspring that added more than three-quarters of a million dollars in money earned to their sire’s laurels. CRM Livewire moved to progeny earnings of $7,575,990 lifetime, just ahead of SF Royal Quick Flash’s $7,415,405.

Whitekiller’s lifetime stats are as follows for each breed, according to Equibase statistics – (Mixed) 2,927 starts; 449 wins, 401 seconds and 372 thirds for $6,433,128 in earnings; (Quarter Horses) 2,595 starts, 312 firsts, 367 seconds and 319 thirds for a bankroll of $3,739,352, and believe it or not, he actually has raced a few thoroughbreds in his career. His marks there are 203 starters, 24 firsts, 21 seconds and 16 thirds for $130,139 earned.

NICER WEATHER HAS ALLOWED FOR JAM-PACKED TRAINING

As severe winter weather in the Oklahoma City area (minus-20 20-degree wind chills) finally moved out of the area this past weekend, the horses were kicking down the barn doors to get to the track on Sunday and Monday. A total of 295 horses had official workouts those two days, including some prominent stakes winners from the past here.

Trainers sent 175 horses to the track Monday, including the likes of Livewires Turnpike, Wire Transfer, and O Donovan Rossa. On Sunday, Queen for Cash and Kool Man Kenny made appearances on the work tab.

Livewires Turnpike only raced at Remington Park twice last year, but both times took home stakes trophies for Hawk, Whitekiller, and jockey Francisco Calderon. The now 5-year-old gelded son of CRM Livewire, from the PYC Paint Your Wagon mare Wagon On Turnpike, worked 220 yards in a time of 12.96, handily. The bullet work at that distance was 11.46, handily from the gate for Bloody Valentine Z.

O Donovan Rossa, a Champion Distance runner at Remington Park and a winner of last year’s Distance Challenge Stakes and the Pauls Valley Stakes here, took to the track for a 440-yard move, going 21.41 seconds, the fastest of three at that distance Monday. O Donovan Rossa is an Oklahoma-bred 7-year-old gelding by Apollitical Jess, out of the Country Chicks Man mare Shanachee. He is owned by Kelly Yother Equine and trained by two-time defending champion trainer Dee Keener. O Donovan Rossa has won 12-of-41 starts lifetime.

On Sunday, Queen for Cash, named the 2024 Appaloosa Horse of the Year, was on the track for a 220-yard workout session. The 7-year-old Oklahoma-bred mare by Hes Relentless, out of the Ivory James mare Ivory Queen, has won an incredible 16-of-35 lifetime for owner-breeder Gary Vaughan. Jesus Ruiz is the trainer. She covered 220 yards Sunday in 12.09, handily. The bullet work was Sweet and Hot’s 11.67, handily from the gate.

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW to view the draw for each day of training.

Tuesday, February 25 – Training Races
Wednesday, February 26 – Training Races
Thursday, February 27 – Training Races

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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