SECOND ROUND OF TRAINING RACES, WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY, FEATURES 21 TREY WOOD RUNNERS IN 21 RACES

by Richard Linihan

OKLAHOMA CITY, February 21, 2024 – Remington Park’s leading trainer in 2017, Trey Wood, is emptying his barn of his 2-year-olds this week in 21 training races, 11 on Wednesday, Feb. 21 and 10 on Thursday, Feb. 22.

The Remington Park training, or schooling, races will begin at 11 a.m. All are contested at 250 yards.

It will be the second round of training races for Remington Park as 26 races were run last week. Wood has entered 21 of his juvenile American Quarter Horses to prep them for the upcoming Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa race meet that begins on Thursday, March 7 at Remington Park.

Wood was the top trainer here in 2017 with 42 wins. He didn’t win many races last year, taking only nine trips to the winner’s circle and finishing outside the Top 10 in the trainers’ standings, but he fared much better on money earned. Wood finished ninth with his horses banking $384,648 in 2023 at Remington Park. For his career, Wood has had 3,870 starts, 732 wins, 651 seconds and 515 thirds among Quarter Horses for earnings of $22,164,956. He is a multiple graded-stakes winning trainer and has conditioned some of the top runners in the game, including 2018 All American Futurity winner Apocalyptical Jess, although he was trained by Trey’s father Blane Wood at the time of that biggest win. Trey Wood was, however, the trainer of record when Apocalyptical Jess won the 2019 Grade 3, $289,975 Remington Park Derby for Oklahoma-breds at 3-5 odds.

Wood had one win in last week’s training races – Fedra, the third-fastest winner of the day on Wednesday, with a time of :13.941 (66 speed index) in race 11. All training races at Remington Park are contested at 250 yards.

Trainer Cody Noel’s 2-year-olds last week showed the most promise in the first round of training races, winning five of the 26 on the tab. His fastest was AJ Princess on Wednesday, who was the quickest on the day at :13.722 into a stiff headwind. On Thursday, Kingpyn was the speediest of all the training race winners with a time of :13.590 but it was a much different day as the horses ran with a mild tailwind. Pedro Hernandez-Pulido trains Kingpyn.

Last year’s leading trainer at Remington Park, Dee Keener, had the second most winners last week with four getting to the wire first. Keener had 37 wins last year to lead the spring meet, beating Jason Olmstead by two.

Keener will send out 12 youngsters for training races this week. That’s the third-most entries for the two days as Clint Crawford has entered 14. Only one other trainer will hit double figures in entries and that is Hernandez-Pulido with 10. Olmstead has yet to try any 2-year-olds in the training races and says, “it’s a little early for me to send them out.”

Other trainers with more than one win in the schooling races thus far are Jesus Ruiz, Kasey Willis, Clint Crawford and Buddy Clay. They all have had two horses win training races. Twelve-time training title and record holder at Remington Park, Eddie Willis, had one win in last week’s training races. He has none entered for this week’s activities.

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Remington Park has provided more than $344 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 simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. The 2024 racing schedule begins Thursday, March 7, as the American Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa Season starts its 50-date season. Parking and admission are always free. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.