The grade 2 $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs is the highlight of national racing this weekend and one of Oklahoma's finest will be trying to bring the trophy home.
Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame jockey Cliff Berry returns to the saddle of Holiday Mischief to try to upset some big guns in the Super Derby in Bossier City, La.
Berry will ride for a top Oklahoma trainer in Joe Offolter, who also owns Holiday Mischief.
On Aug. 3, Holiday Mischief tracked the odds-on favorite in the $100,000 Super Derby Prelude over this same racetrack and just got up for the victory by a head over Sunbean. Berry was in the irons that day and timed the ride perfectly.
He will be fighting the same battle Saturday as he takes on even heavier hitters, including favorite Departing, a multiple graded stakes winner.
These two horses have faced off before in the Texas Heritage Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston. Departing was the winner that night by almost three lengths, but Holiday Mischief was good enough to beat the rest of the field. He is listed at 10-1 odds in the Super Derby morning line against the even-money Departing.
If Holiday Mischief has gotten better since the Prelude, the Super Derby could develop into an interesting race.
"I thought it was a really game effort," Offolter said of his horse's win in the Prelude. "He was just determined. He's been a late-maturing kind of horse, and hopefully he's going in the right direction. I think he's probably even put on some weight since the last race."
If he can make up three lengths from the last time he faced Departing, there might just be an upset in the making.
The guy who can make the magic happen is Berry. Among his accomplishments are surpassing the 4,000-win mark; riding seven winners in one night, a record at Remington Park after winning five the night before; and he has taken home riding titles from Oklahoma City in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2011. He is the all-time leading rider at Remington Park.
Berry and Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Famer trainer Steve Asmussen lead the pack in the Top 10 standings at Remington Park.
Berry has 15 wins, five better than any other jockey this fall.
Asmussen has eight wins, compared to six from Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Famer Donnie K. Von Hemel, and Bret Calhoun.
Longshot jockeys
Here is a quick look at the top 10 riders at Remington Park who bring in the most long shots to make exactas and trifectas in boxcars of money.
These standings are determined by the number of times these jockeys ran first, second or third with horses that went off at no less than 10-1 odds or won a race with a horse that paid $20 to win on a $2 ticket:
Curtis Kimes, 10 times; Fabio Arguello Jr., 8; Benny Landeros, 7; Terry Thompson, Alex Birzer and Jose Medina, 6; Erik McNeil, 5; and Glenn Corbett, Belen Quinonez, Ken Tohill, and Ken Tohills, 4.
Richard Linihan is marketing director at Fair Meadows in Tulsa
Original Print Headline: Holiday Mischief's magic may bring upset
Other - Horse Racing
Will Rogers
Morning Line
CONTACT THE REPORTER
Email
