Page 16 - June 2018 Speedhorse

REMINGTON PARK WELCOMES NEW HALL OF FAME CLASS
Remington Park inducted the newest mem- bers into its Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame on June 1. The 2018 Hall of Fame class of seven, which included three horses and four humans, were presented throughout night as Remington Park held its penultimate race card for the Quarter Horse season.
SLM Big Daddy, two-time AQHA World Champion, is one of the best-known and all- time favorites at Remington Park, where he was dominant on the track for three seasons from 1997 through 1999. He won the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Eastex Stakes along with a pair of scores in the Leo Stakes (then Remington Gold Cup in 1997-1998) and a win in the 1997 Remington Park Championship. A racing mil- lionaire and AQHA Supreme Racehorse, “Big Daddy” won the 1997 and 1998 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos, the same years he earned World Champion honors. Campaigned by Steve and Lindsey Mitchell of Brownwood, Texas, and trained by Don Mourning, the gelding earned $1,013,550 during his career.
As the reign of SLM Big Daddy ended at Remington Park, a new era began for Tailor
Fit, who won three consecutive Remington
Park Championships in 1999, 2000 and 2001, in addition to a pair of triumphs in the 2000 and 2001 Oklahoma Challenge Championship. Tailor Fit twice won the Champion of Champi- ons at Los Alamitos in 1999 and 2001, the same years he was voted the AQHA World Cham- pion. An AQHA Supreme Racehorse, Tailor Fit earned nearly $1.3 million while racing for Betty Jane Burlin of Navasota, Texas. He was trained by Steve VanBebber and Janet VanBebber.
Never out of the money in her 12 career starts at Remington Park, Spit Curl Diva was one of the fastest and most versatile females
to compete in Oklahoma. At the height of her career in 2010 as a 4 year old, Spit Curl Diva set three Remington Park New Track Records at three different distances and in three consecu- tive races. She won the 2010 Decketta Stakes and set a new 350-yard mark; she won the 2010 Bob Moore Memorial and set the 300-yard re- cord; then she won a 250-yard allowance to set that standard. An AQHA Supreme Racehorse, Spit Curl Diva still owns the 300-yard record at Remington Park. Her other top stakes wins in- cluded the 2008 Blue Ribbon Downs Futurity; the 2008 Speedhorse Gold Cup Futurity and the 2009 Oklahoma Derby at Fair Meadows
in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the 2010 Refrigerator Handicap at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas; and the 2010 AQHA Distaff Challenge Championship at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. Owned originally by Elbert Brown of Seminole, Oklahoma, Spit Curl Diva raced the bulk of her career for the Lepic-Morgan Partnership of Iowa
Don Mourning, Mitzi Mays, Lindsey (Mitchell) Pruett & Scott Pruett for SLM Big Daddy
Tailor Fit original owner Tom Ward, Schree Ward, Sue & Ronnie Ward, Gene Newcomb, TaylorAnn VanBebber, Janet VanBebber & Bryce Ward.
Remington Park president Scott Wells, Robert Mixer, Jill Mixer, Tom Lepic & Duke Shults for Spit Curl Diva.
14 SPEEDHORSE, June 2018
City, Iowa. She was trained throughout her ca- reer by David and Jody Brown.
Jimmy Brooks, from Blanchard, Okla- homa, is the latest individual with the Brooks name going into the Hall of Fame. Jimmy is the first son of a Hall of Famer to be honored. Jimmy’s father, jockey Roy Brooks, raced com- petitively well into his 70s, earning his induc- tion in 2010. Jimmy won his first races in 1984 and has found success now in four decades.
He has more than 400 wins at Remington Park and over 1,300 career wins according to
AQHA records. Among his Grade 1 triumphs are the 1998 Remington Park Futurity with Flying Dino; the 2013 Remington Park Cham- pionship with Priceless Feature; the 2013 All American Derby aboard Feature Hero; and the 2016 Los Alamitos Super Derby with Big Lew. Brooks is approaching the $20 million mark
in mount earnings and has 13 victories in the 2018 Remington Park season as of press time. A seasonal training leader at Remington Park nine times, Eddie Willis of Caney, Okla- homa, has been a force in the Sooner State and
Track chaTTer