Dustin Orona Photography

REMINGTON PARK, OKLAHOMA CITY – Myst Fit broke alertly and battled admirably to win the Grade 3, $251,000 Oklahoma Derby over a fast track in a time of 17.382 seconds on Saturday night at Remington Park. He earned $100,400 for the owner partnership of Newman Cattle Company and Bobby Simmons of Stanton, Texas.

Sent to the post at 5-2 odds, the three-year-old gelded son of Separatist is out of the Mr Jess Perry mare, Mystifying and was bred in California by Steve D. Burns, DVM.

Winning jockey Ricky Ramirez had a brief moment of uncertainty just before the gates opened, “He kind of sat back on the rig (flipping halter) for a few moments before they kicked it. Then he sat up and just broke beautiful. I just kind of waited on him and whenever he went to go, I just sent him. He’s the kind of horse if you try to rush him early, he won’t run for you. So I just stayed chilly on him and he finished strong. That 1 horse (Famousist) had me worried pretty much the whole race, until that last hundred yards,” said Ramirez.

Winning trainer Trey Wood had to deal with some surprise health issues last year when Myst Fit was a two-year-old. “He had a lot of soft tissue issues when we got him last year. When we got to Ruidoso (Downs, N.M.), he actually had a throat issue that we didn’t know about until we ran him. Once we ran him, he got really sick and we had to do surgery on him. Luckily he came back good, and he’s a nice horse.”

Part owner Bobby Simmons was very grateful for what trainer Woods has done with his horse. “We’ve been surrounded by a good team. Trey has been wonderful since we started training with him last year. It’s hard for me because I’m pretty impatient. So, Trey’s been very good at helping me be patient and not do too much,” Simmons said.

Myst Fit paid $7.60 to win, $4.40 to place and $3.40 to show. He prevailed by a head decision over 18-1 runner-up Famousist, who paid $14.80 to place and $8.40 to show.  Miss Racy Runaway checked in third at 24-1 odds, to pay $10.60 to show.

Myst Fit has now won three career races from just five attempts. The derby check for first place moves his overall earnings to $117,023. The Oklahoma Derby win is the first in the race for all of the connections of Myst Fit.

The 2017 American Quarter Horse Season at Remington Park continues Sunday, March 26 with the first race at 1:30pm.

Tracked by over 119,000 fans on Facebook and 8,400 Twitter followers, Remington Park is the home of the $950,000 Remington Park Futurity, for Oklahoma-breds, on Saturday, April 22. Remington Park has provided over $166 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Open daily at 10:30am with free parking and admission, Oklahoma City’s only Racetrack & Casino is located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District. For more information, reservations and group bookings please call 405-424-1000, 866-456-9880 or visit remingtonpark.com.