JESSA BEAST QUALIFIES AS FASTEST QUARTER HORSE FOR GRADE 2 OKLAHOMA FUTURITY, EIGHT IN TOP 10 QUALIFY AFTER WINDS SHIFT

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – March 6, 2022 – The stories of Saturday night were that Jessa Beast lived up to his name, posting the top 300-yard time for the Grade 2, $440,800 Oklahoma Futurity, while eight of the top 10 fastest times came after a major wind shift.

The 81^st edition of the historic Oklahoma Futurity will be contested on March 19 at Remington Park. Started in 1947, the longest-running futurity in American Quarter Horse racing has been held in Oklahoma City since 2006.

Jessa Beast, a juvenile colt out of trainer Trey Wood’s barn, screamed down the track like a runaway train in the 11^th race with a 12 mph tailwind and stopped the timer in the fastest time of the night of 12 trials. The horses in the first seven races were unfortunate to have raced into a headwind of the same velocity before the weather changed for the eighth. Four horses qualified from the 11^th trial, two from the 12^th, and two more from the ninth and 10^th. Only two qualified from earlier races – Southern Seis in race five, the sixth fastest qualifier and Ricanelo from the fourth, finishing as 10^th fastest.

Jessa Beast broke like a star from the rail post position in the 11^th race under jockey Raul Ramirez, Jr., winning his heat by a full length for trainer Trey Wood. To be fair, Jessa Beast likely would have cut through a headwind to qualify with the kind of speed he showed gate to wire for the 300 yards over the fast track. The colt by Mr Jess Perry, out of the Corona Cartel mare Famous Corona, broke on top and was a length ahead before the others knew he was gone. All his competitors saw were his tail and kickback as they could draw no closer.

Jessa Beast’s speed index of 94 was five points higher than the runner-up Sunday Sylence’s 89. Still, despite finishing well behind the winner, three more from this trial qualified.

Jessa Beast was bred in Louisiana by Grant Farms and is owned by Newman Cattle Company (Thomas R. Newman) of Stanton, Texas.

Wood also qualified Ricanelo to the futurity, he and trainer Julio Corral were the only two conditioners to qualify two each for the finals.

Two riders qualified a pair for the finals – Juan Pulido on Fancy Scarface (second fastest) and Capo On Fire (eighth), and Edwin Escobedo on Ima Bigg Rush (fifth) and Cartels Dancer (ninth fastest).

The following were the 10 fastest qualifiers with times, speed index, race number, trainer and jockey:

• 1) Jessa Beast, :15.323, 94, race 11, Trey Wood, Raul Ramirez
• 2) Fancy Scarface, :15.339, 94, race nine, Santos Carrizales, Juan Pulido
• 3) Tres Crystals, :15.368, 93, race 12, Dee Keener, Bryan Candanosa
• 4) Sunday Sylence, :15.469, 89, race 11, Leonardo Alcala, Jose Alvarez
• 5) Ima Bigg Rush, :15.491, 88, race 11, Julio Corral, Edwin Escobedo
• 6) Southern Seis, :15.523, 87, race five, Jose Huerta, Roman Cruz
• 7) Return My Corona, :15.556, 86, race 12, Michael Joiner, Jose Alvarez
• 8) Capo On Fire, :15.557, 86, race 11, Fidencio Jimenez, Juan Pulido
• 9) Cartels Dancer, :15.579, 86, race 10, Julio Corral, Edwin Escobedo
• 10) Ricanelo, :15.599, 85, race four, Trey Wood, Tanner Thedford

Remington Park concludes the opening weekend of the season with a 10-race program on Sunday, March 6, featuring trials for the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby and the second stakes race of the season, the Grade 3 SLM Big Daddy Stakes. The first race is set for 4pm-Central.
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Tracked by more than 168,000 fans on Facebook and 10,600 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $286 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 is the home of the historic Oklahoma Futurity on March 19. Simulcast horse racing featured daily, the casino is always open! Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.