Oklahoma Derby gains another contender; see the prospective field

The prospective field for the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sept. 29 continues to grow with the New York Derby winner Bankit likely to join a race that should also include four well-known graded stakes-winning sophomores at Remington Park.

The headliners are...

Long Range Toddy won the Springboard Mile at Remington Park as a juvenile and a division of the Grade 2, $750,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., this spring.

Tax won the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga in upstate New York on July 27. He breezed a half mile in 47.60 seconds at Belmont Park on Saturday in New York, the fourth fastest of 64 that tried that distance.

Mucho Gusto won both the Grade 3, $100,000 Laz Barrera Stakes and the Grade 3, $100,000 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita in California this spring and then pushed the best horses in the country in the 3-year-old division this summer. Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Mucho Gusto held his own after the weather heated up, running second to Maximum Security in the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell at Monmouth and third in the Grade 1, $1,250,000 Travers Stakes at Saratoga to Code of Honor, who some believe is the top sophomore runner in the country.

Owendale won the Grade 3, $500,000 Ohio Derby at Thistledown after losing by only 1 1/4 lengths in the Preakness to War of Will. He posted a bullet work at Churchill Downs on Saturday, breezing five furlongs in a swift 58.80 seconds, the fastest of 42 at the distance.

Entries close Wednesday, the same day as the first Tex Sutton charter flight arrives to Oklahoma carrying a batch of out of town contenders. Also on the card is the Grade 3, $200,000 Remington Park Oaks expected to include, among others, multiple stakes winner Lady Apple. She, as with Bankit, is trained by Steve Asmussen.