REMINGTON PARK DISTANCE CHAMPION PUTS IN FIRST WORKOUT FOR UPCOMING MEET

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – February 12, 2024 – One of last year’s top upsetters at the Remington Park American Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa race meet was Markus Aurelius in the Grade 1, $51,120 Remington Park Distance Championship at 870 yards. That 5-year-old gelding hit the track Tuesday for his return to action in a morning workout for trainer Clint Crawford.

Crawford just gave the stakes winner a short work at 220 yards to get him started and he went :12.56 seconds handily over a fast but chilled track as the temperatures dipped down into the mid-30s with a cold front moving into Oklahoma City. Only three horses of 27, who worked 220 yards, broke the 12-second mark this morning. Jockey Alexis Ramirez was up for Crawford during the training session.

Last year, Markus Aurelius, a Texas-bred gelded son of Secret Circle, out of the Yawls Rabbit mare Neons Miracle, won two-of-five starts in 2023 at this Oklahoma City track. The Distance Championship on June 1, the final day of the season, was his only win against black-type company. Markus Aurelius ran a dismal eighth in his first try last spring at Remington Park at 350 yards. In his next start on April 7, Crawford followed his intuition and decided to send him around the hook at 870 yards in the Grade 2, $38,896 Remington Park Distance Challenge. The big sorrel gelding showed improvement, but still could only get fourth to multiple-stakes winner O Donovan Rossa, a distance champion at Remington Park, beaten 3-1/4 lengths.

The experiment was not over, however. Crawford sent him out again April 28 for owners Bobby and Catherine Simmons of Midland, Texas, in another 870-yard race, dropping him in class to the allowance level. This time, Markus Aurelius showed a great deal of improvement at 11-1 odds, finishing second, only a half-length back of winner Rock Ya Later.

Markus Aurelius would win his next two outings – May 24 at 870 yards against allowance horses as the 2-5 favorite, drawing off by 1-1/4 lengths with veteran hook rider Stormy Smith in the irons. Crawford was now ready to try him again against the big boys and put him in the Distance Championship which would be a rematch against O Donovan Rossa and Rock Ya Later, two horses that had already shown him their heels in earlier races.

O Donovan Rossa was sent off as the prohibitive 1-5 favorite in this ultimate hook race at Remington for 2024 and Rock Ya Later was 8-1. Markus Aurelius received some action at 9-1 odds and Smith was back in the saddle. In his previous meeting with O Donovan Rossa, that stakes winner went gate-to-wire to beat Markus Aurelius easily. This time Smith and Markus Aurelius got the jump on the field from post-position two with O Donovan Rossa breaking inside him on the rail. The pair would battle for a couple of hundred yards before Markus Aurelius prevailed. He scored by 1-3/4 lengths over Rock Ya Later, who was another half-length better than O Donovan Rossa. Markus Aurelius earned $29,892 for that victory winning in a time of :44.92 for a 102 speed index. He will come into the 2025 meet with a lifetime record of 18 starts, four wins, three seconds and one third for a bankroll of $93,581.

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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.