Oklahoma Derby notes: Pletcher commits, West Coast contenders in

Todd Pletcher, a seven-time Eclipse Award winner as Trainer of the Year, has committed a colt and filly for the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby and the Grade 3, $200,000 Remington Park Oaks, on Sunday, Sept. 30.

An itinerary of Tex Sutton’s plane “Air Horse One” shows Pletcher is sending 3-year-old colt Wooderson and 3-year-old filly Alborello from Louisville, Ky., to Oklahoma City for the Derby and Oaks, respectively. They will be on the same plane with one of the expected favorites in the Oklahoma Derby – trainer Tom Amoss’ charge, Lone Sailor.

Pletcher has won the Kentucky Derby with Super Saver and Always Dreaming, and also stood in the Belmont Stakes winner’s circle with the filly Rags to Riches, Palace Malice and Tapwrit.

Wooderson, an Awesome Again colt out of the Roar mare Lotta Kim, is owned by Let’s Go Stable. He is lightly raced with only four starts, but did break his maiden at Saratoga in upstate New York with two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey of the year John Velazquez in the irons. Velazquez won the 2011 Kentucky Derby aboard Animal Kingdom and in 2017 with Always Dreaming.

Wooderson stalked the leader just heads apart in his maiden win, before prevailing by a length at 7-1 odds. He was a near-winner in his first start with allowance-company at Saratoga, finishing second beaten a half-length in a 1 1/8-mile event, the same distance as the Oklahoma Derby, on Sept. 1. Wooderson worked a half mile in :48.2 breezing on Sept. 15 to prep for his trip to Oklahoma City.

Alborello, a Bernardini filly out of the Carson City mare Carson Jen, has never been worse than second in four trips to the track, running at four different venues in her young career. She was beaten a head in a maiden race at Tampa Bay in her career debut in March, then broke her maiden at Keeneland by more than six lengths the next time out in April. Alborello was then shipped to Belmont Park in New York where she again ran second in her first start against winners, beaten less than a length in May. Her next time out on a sloppy surface at Saratoga, she romped wire to wire by almost six lengths on July 26. She has had a series of works at Saratoga in August and September to prep for the Oaks.

MORE HORSES ARRIVING VIA “AIR HORSE ONE”

Trainer Doug O’Neill, a prominent presence on the West Coast for many years and a two-time Kentucky Derby winner with I’ll Have Another and Nyquist, has 3-year-old filly Luminoso headed to Oklahoma City for the Remington Park Oaks. She will be on the same plane with trainer Jeff Mullins’ colt Tatters to Riches and filly Barleysugar. Also on that plane is trainer Peter Eurton’s colt, Draft Pick.

The third plane bound for Oklahoma City has spots for the gelding Pop Keenan from trainer John Servis’ barn and his colt Diamond King also a passenger. A third horse on that flight will be trainer Christophe Clement’s horse Sea Foam. Pop Keenan is coming to Remington Park for the $150,000 David Vance Sprint, while Diamond King and Sea Form are bound for the Oklahoma Derby.

“Air Horse One” will make three trips to Oklahoma City and Will Rogers World Airport on Friday ahead of the richest racing program of the season at Remington Park.

UNDERCARD FEATURE PACKS FAMILIAR NAMES

This year’s $175,000 Governor’s Cup on the Oklahoma Derby Day undercard Sunday, Sept. 30, will likely feature a rematch of a millionaire horse – Shotgun Kowboy - and a horse that competed in the 2017 Kentucky Derby and Preakness - Hence.

Shotgun Kowboy has earned more than $1 million in his career for owner-trainer C.R. Trout of Edmond, Okla., and this summer pulled off a huge upset in the Grade 3, $200,000 Lone Star Park Handicap, defeating Grade 1 winner Mubtaahij, out of National Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s barn. Mubtaahij was the winner of the Grade 2, $2 million UAE Derby in Dubai in 2015 by eight lengths. He then competed in the Grade 1, $2 million Kentucky Derby and finished fourth to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the Belmont Stakes. Shotgun Kowboy went wire-to-wire in the Lone Star Handicap under jockey Luis Quinonez and was able to hold off Mubtaahij in the process by a length and a half.

Now it appears Shotgun Kowboy will run into another Triple Crown contender in Hence, owned by Calumet Farm and handled by another National Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Shotgun Kowboy, a 6-year-old gelded son of Kodiak Kowboy, out of the Siphon mare Shotgun Jane, is the second of two millionaires owned and trained by Trout.

Other horses likely to invade for the Governor’s Cup include Remembering Rita, Term of Art and possibly Leofric. There are a handful of locally-based horses also expected to take a shot.