Bracket Buster stalks and scores to win Oklahoma Derby
After 37 runnings of the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby, Vicki Oliver shattered the glass ceiling. She became the first woman to train the winner of the race when her 2-5 favorite Bracket Buster crossed the finish line first Sunday night at Remington Park.
“(Bracket Buster) is a really neat horse,” Oliver said. “We were looking for a race about five weeks out for him, and this race fit him perfectly.”
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Winning jockey Luis Sáez said he knew he had a class horse after Bracket Buster ran second in the Travers (G1) at Saratoga behind Sovereignty, the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner. He lost by 10 lengths to the top 3-year-old in the country, but he beat the rest of the field by 10 3/4 lengths.
“He is a pretty talented horse,” Sáez said. “Today’s race came up pretty easy, and I was very comfortable about his chances.”
It was Saez’s third win Sunday as he enjoyed the most successful afternoon of any jockey at Remington Park.
The victory in the Oklahoma Derby was by a margin of 3 1/4 lengths over Steve Asmussen trainee Iron Dome, the 4-1 second choice. Iron Dome came into the Oklahoma Derby on a three-race winning streak with the average margin of victory more than nine lengths. Local horse Mister Omaha (12-1) with trainer Joe Offolter and jockey Luis Quiñónez was good enough for third. He was 4 3/4 lengths ahead of Publisher (5-1), Asmussen’s other entry who finished fourth and who has earned a nearly $500,000 without winning a race yet in his career.
The rest of the order of finish was Hot Gunner (179-1) fifth and Colonel Yorke (55-1) sixth.
Take Charge Tom (11-1) was pulled up at the top of the stretch and was taken off the track in an equine ambulance. There was no further announcement about his condition.
Bracket Buster paid $2.80, $2.10 and $2.10. He earned $240,000 for owners BBN Racing of Paris, Ky. His winning time was 1:49.99 for the 1 1/8 miles over the fast main track.
Sáez positioned Bracket Buster in second for the first mile just off front-running Mister Omaha. He pounced turning for home and had a four-length lead at the top of the stretch. Bracket Buster ran just behind fractions of 23.81, 48.04 and 1:12.41, and he had the mile in 1:36.81.
Bracket Buster’s record improved to 10: 3-2-1 with a bankroll of $776,318. After being bred by David Baxter, he was bought at auction twice. He went for $160,000 at the Keeneland Association breeding-stock sale in November 2022. BBN Racing picked him up for $125,000 in the September 2023 Keeneland yearling sale.
Oliver and her husband Phil started a stable of horses in 1999 and gradually have moved up in the business. Vicki Oliver has started 3,638 horses in her career, winning 382 races, running second 412 times and third another 461. Her horses have earned $25,284,434.