Include Betty highlights Remington Park Oaks

Oklahoma Derby Day is Sunday at Remington Park, and track officials have scheduled a plethora of stakes for the occasion.

However, the biggest event on the undercard has to be the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks sending a field of seven 1 1/16 miles over the main track. Now, a seven-horse field is usually nothing to get excited about, but this particular one happens to feature Include Betty.

That chestnut filly made a name for herself over the spring while readying for the Kentucky Oaks (G1). The Tom Proctor charge entered the Kentucky Oaks owning a three-for-three mark on the year over the dirt. The only blemish on her seasonal record came via a fifth-place run in the grassy Florida Oaks (G3).

Include Betty quickly put the turf experiment behind her when shipping to Oaklawn Park to take the track’s feature event for three-year-old fillies – the Fantasy S. (G3) – at 18-1. She was sent off at 26-1 in the Kentucky Oaks and finished eighth after a terrible trip in which she was blocked and steadied after bumping with a rival at the eighth-pole.

The Kentucky-bred miss put that experience behind her when second two weeks later in the Black-Eyed Susan S. (G2) at Pimlico and romped by 3 1/4 lengths in the Mother Goose S. (G1) in late June at Belmont Park.

Include Betty will enter the Remington Park Oaks off a third in the Coaching Club American Oaks and a fifth-placing in the Alabama S. (G1), both at Saratoga. Drayden Van Dyke retains the mount on the 2-5 morning-line favorite.

Of those lining up against Include Betty on Sunday, Sweet Opportunity looks to hold the best chance of an upset. Not one in the field has come close to earning the same kind of BRIS numbers as Include Betty, but Sweet Opportunity did manage to garner a 93 BRIS Speed rating for her close fourth in the Iowa Oaks (G3) two back.

The Donnie Von Hemel pupil is still looking for her first stakes victory and keeps regular rider Luiz Quinonez aboard as the 9-2 morning-line second choice.

Tosha Talifero is the only other filly in the Remington Park Oaks field at single digits on the morning line. The Jack Van Berg trainee, who will open in the betting at 5-1, is riding a three-race win streak that includes a win over the track going six furlongs most recently. She’ll be making her stakes bow in the contest as well as stretching out past 6 1/2 furlongs for the first time.

An interesting prospect in the race is Paige, who returns to the main track here after running on turf in three of her past four outings. The chestnut lass didn’t show anything in the June 27 Iowa Oaks, but closed out her juvenile season with a rallying third in the Alcibiades S. (G1) at Keeneland last October.

Remington Park’s stakes action on Sunday will kick off in the $50,000 Flashy Lady S. and continues with the $100,000 Remington Green S., $150,000 Remington Park Sprint Cup, $75,000 Ricks Memorial S. and $75,000 Kip Deville S. The $400,000 Oklahoma Derby (G3) closes out the stakes in the 9TH race.

Include Betty photo courtesy of NYRA/Nicole DiGiovanni/Adam Coglianese Photography