Run Slewpy Run will attempt to win the $50,000 Bob Barry Memorial for the fourth consecutive year Friday night at Remington Park.
The race for fillies and mares is one of three Oklahoma-bred turf stakes on the card. It will be run over 7 1/2 furlongs, the same distance as the $50,000 Red Earth for 3-year-olds and up. The program also includes the $50,000 Remington Park Turf Sprint.
“She’s trying to go for four in a row,” trainer Jayde Gelner said. “That’s hard to do.”
Run Slewpy Run, now 6, is a daughter of Den’s Legacy who races for her breeder, Walter M. Jones. She enters the Barry Memorial off a sixth-place finish in a second-level allowance for open company Aug. 29 at Remington. It was her first start since last October, when she closed her season with a win in the Oklahoma Classics Distaff Turf.
“She gets a break every year,” said Gelner, who added he felt she needed her last race. “This has been the game plan from the beginning.”
Gelner said Run Slewpy Run has not changed much since last season, as the seasoned mare remains a feisty filly at heart.
“She still likes to bite,” he said. “She’s sly. She’s like, ‘Come over here and pet me,’ and I go over and pet her and she tries to bite me. She’s got a little attitude.”
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Gelner said he will leave tactics to jockey Stewart Elliott when Run Slewpy Run starts from post 7 in Friday’s field of eight.
The chief threats appear to be Talkin Cadee, who in May won a first-level allowance over open company at Lone Star Park, and Doudoudouwanadance, who is coming off a win over Run Slewpy Run in August.
◗ Number One Dude, a half-brother to Doudoudouwanadance, should go favored in the Red Earth. He is moving back to turf after finishing a close second to multiple Grade 2 winner Silver Prospector in a no-conditions allowance at Remington.
Number One Dude was second in last year’s Red Earth. The multiple stakes winner races for his breeder, Terry Westemeir, as does Doudoudouwanadance. Both horses are trained by Scott Young and will be ridden by Leandro Goncalves.
Tap the Dot, winner of last year’s Red Earth, is part of the field Friday, as is Rowdy Rascal, who was third in that race. Eakly, winner of last year’s Oklahoma Classics Turf Classic at Remington, is making his first start at 4.
Rowdy Rascal has reason to move forward, trainer Boyd Caster said. He enters off a sixth-place finish to Mor Victory in an open-company allowance at Remington.
“He needed the race last time,” Caster said. “He’d been off three or four months.”
◗ Dark Afternoon will be moving back to the Oklahoma-bred ranks when he defends his title in the Remington Park Turf Sprint. Twentyone N Change, second in the race last year, also is entered.
Secret Faith to Louisiana Jewel
Secret Faith, a multiple stakes winner who is unbeaten in three starts, is set to make her two-turn debut next month at Delta Downs, according to her trainer, Jayde Gelner. She is being pointed to the $100,000 Louisiana Jewel for 2-year-old fillies at seven furlongs on Oct. 11.
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“I think she should get over the two turns,” Gelner said.
Secret Faith was a 14-length winner of a division of the D.S. “Shine” Young Memorial Futurity last out at Evangeline Downs, earning a strong Beyer Speed Figure of 79. Prior to the race, she won a $150,000 division of the Texas Thoroughbred Futurity at Lone Star Park.
Secret Faith is a daughter of Aurelius Maximus and a half-sister to multiple stakes winners Strong Promise and Midnight Fantasy.
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