Cox seeks 4th straight Oklahoma Derby win with Best Actor

The Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby headlines a 12-race program on Sunday at Remington Park. The headliner drew a field of eight this morning with Best Actor tabbed the 9-5 morning-line favorite.

Owned by Gary and Mary West of Omaha, Neb., Best Actor will attempt to give trainer Brad Cox his fourth consecutive victory in the Oklahoma Derby. Most recently, the winner of the Smarty Jones Stakes (G3) at Parx in Philadelphia, Best Actor will try to join Owendale (2019), Shared Sense (2020) and Warrant (2021) as Cox-trained derby winners at Remington Park.

Best Actor has only had four career starts, all as a 3-year-old, winning three of the four. The lone defeat was a second-place effort in the Indiana Derby (G3) at Horseshoe Indianapolis, where he was beaten only a half-length by Actuator. Jockey Florent Geroux will keep the mount he has had with Best Actor in his last two attempts. Geroux rode Owendale to victory in the Oklahoma Derby to begin the string of triumphs in Oklahoma City for Cox.

Rattle N Roll is the second choice on the morning-line at 5-2, after winning the St. Louis Derby at FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing, in southern Illinois. Owned by Lucky Seven Stable of Louisville, Ky. and trained by Ken McPeek, Rattle N Roll won the St. Louis Derby by 4-1/2 lengths. Earlier in the year, Rattle N Roll ran third to Cyberknife in the Matt Winn Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs. Cyberknife, the Arkansas Derby winner, went on to be victorious in the $1 million Haskell Stakes (G1) and was runner-up in the Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga this summer. Jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. will ride Rattle N Roll as he has in all but two of the colt’s 12 career attempts.

Rattle N Roll leads all entrants in the Oklahoma Derby with career earnings of $758,105. He also won the American Derby at Churchill Downs in July and was the winner of the Breeders Futurity (G1) at Keeneland as a 2-year-old.

Racing’s all-time leading trainer, Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, has entered King Ottoman for the Oklahoma Derby as he tries to win the race for a second time. Owned by Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., King Ottoman was victorious in the Texas Derby at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, in May. That win is the only career victory from six attempts for this colt by Curlin from the Tapit mare Shook Up. King Ottoman will be ridden by Stewart Elliott and is 5-1 in the morning-line.

Other derby winners in the Oklahoma Derby on Sunday are Great Escape (8-1), the winner of the Canadian Derby (G3), and Manitoba Derby winner Red Knobs (12-1), both trained by Robertino Diodoro, and Steal Sunshine (8-1), winner of the Ellis Park Derby in August.