Local trainer finishes 2nd in standings at Remington Park
OKLAHOMA CITY — Sallisaw horse trainer Matt Whitekiller finished runner-up in the training title standings at Remington Park, which just completed the 2025 American quarter horse, paint and appaloosa season last weekend.
Whitekiller recorded 28 wins with his horses, finishing a distant second to Inola’s Dee Keener, who won his third consecutive training title with 54 victories.
Cristian Alcala finished third with 25 wins while Jason Olmstead compiled 20 victories, good for fourth in the standings.
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Jockey Juan Pulido ran away with the riders’ title with 67 total wins for the meet to runner-up and semi-local jockey Francisco Calderon who had 43 trips to the winner’s circle.
Roman Cruz was third in jockey wins with 33 while Mario Delgado finished fourth with 32. Pulido had not won the jockeys’ title at Remington Park since 2021 when he had a meager 46 wins in comparison. This was his second trophy for this category. No other jockey had won this many times at Remington Park in a season since G.R. Carter finished 2014 with 66. There were those wondering if Pulido was getting near the record for wins, but they need not. That record is safely held by Carter, who won an incredible 98 races in 2008.
In the money race, the finish was much tighter. Pulido won that one, too, as his horses compiled $1,508,128 while Calderon’s mounts earned $1,423,122. Had Calderon’s mount, Apollirevenge, in the Heritage Place Futurity won by a nose instead of dead-heating, Calderon would have won the money race. Roman Cruz was the only other jockey with mount earnings beyond seven digits as he finished third with $1,136,021.
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The owners’ race was the only run for a title that came down to the last day for wins. Alcala Ranch of Jones and 918 Bloodstock of Inola were the two entities fighting tooth and nail for the trophy. In the end, 918 Bloodstock prevailed 16-15 when Vesper Martini won the first race on the final night of racing. That gave 918 Bloodstock a two-win separation, and it was too much for Alcala Ranch to overcome.
Dunn Ranch of Wynnewood was third for the season with 10 wins by an owner.
Alcala Ranch did win the fifth race last Saturday, the $75,000 FL Lady Bug Stakes, with Relentless Knockout, but getting within a victory of 918 Bloodstock was the best that was able to be accomplished. Alcala Ranch had three more chances in the seventh, ninth and 12th races, but its top finish in those races were third-place finishes by Kiss My Hat in the Boyd Morris Memorial Stakes (seventh race) and Jess A Good Angel, who ran third in the Grade 1 Heritage Place Futurity, but was only a head back of the two horses that dead-heated for the win.
The leading money earner for owners was not nearly as close. When Dunn Ranch (Matt Dunn) deadheated in the Heritage Place Futurity with his winner, Apollirevenge, it propelled the ranch to the top earner with a total of $602,726. Apollirevenge’s win banked $342,498.
Finishing second in seasonal money was Alcala Ranch, which had a total of $409,264. Had Jess A Good Angel managed to win the Heritage Place Futurity, the two ranches would have switched places for the lead for earning by an owner.
