Shockinglyfamous (#1) wins the SLM Big Daddy Stakes in easy fashion on Sunday at Remington Park. This is the second win in the race for Shockinglyfamous who also won in 2020.

© Dustin Orona Photography

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK—MARCH 12, 2023– It's always nice when you can win $29,730 for a scheduled workout, which was basically trainer Kasey Willis' plan for Shockinglyfamous in the $50,000 SLM Big Daddy Stakes on Sunday at Remington Park.

"We really were pointing him to the 870-yard (AQHA-Remington Park Distance) Challenge in April, so I figured we might as well get a work in him; I like to get paid for a workout," Willis said with a smile.

It was the second time Shockingly Famous had won the SLM Big Daddy, having captured the same trophy in 2020. This edition of the race might have been the toughest in its history.

That was exemplified by the fact that Shockinglyfamous was sent off at 11-1 odds. If that doesn't explain it enough, the top two runners were champions - the winner was the 2022 Champion Aged Stallion, and in second was the 2022 AQHA Distance Champion Wascallywittlewabbit, who was running the 550-yard distance for the first time in his career.

Wascallywittlewabbit is a hook-race specialist and will likely meet Shockinglyfamous in that Challenge in April going around the turn. Wascallywittlewabbit won both the Pauls Valley Stakes and the Remington Park Distance Championship at 870 yards and Shockinglyfamous ran second to him in both of those stakes last year. A rivalry is brewing.

Jockey Alonso Rivera was aboard Shockinglyfamous for the first time as he was named on the mount for regular rider Cody Wainscott, who had to take off his mounts this week after becoming ill.

"This was my first time on him and he is just a superstar horse," Rivera said. "He broke good and I just let him do his job. At the 220-yard pole, I just said, 'Let's go home, boy.'"

Willis has trained this 7-year-old horse by One Famous Eagle, out of the Langfuhr (TB) mare Shocktime (TB) to his second SLM Big Daddy stakes victory, a race named for the two-time World Champion from 1997 and 1998 who was a fan favorite and star at Remington Park in the late 1990s.

"They used to haul "Big Daddy" into my dad's (Eddie's) barn to run here, so it's really nice to win this again," said Kasey.

Shockinglyfamous, bred in Texas by Clarence Scharbauer III, is owned by Kasey and Stone Chase Stables of Maysville, Okla.

Even though the horse was a past winner of the same race, he was totally ignored on the toteboard. Back in 2020 when he won the SLM Big Daddy, he went off at 5-1 odds. On Sunday, he covered the 550 yards in a winning time of :26.391 over a fast track with an 11-mph tailwind. In 2020, his winning time was :26.395. That night he ran into a 27-mph headwind.

On Sunday, Shockinglyfamous beat Wascallywittlewabbit by an impressive 1-3/4 lengths. The runner-up was a half-length ahead of third-place runner Jess Rocket Man (6-1), another multiple stakes winner.

The winner paid $25.60 to win, $11.40 to place and $7.40 to show. He led the race from start to finish. His speed index was a lightning-quick 113.

The money earned improved the lifetime record for Shockinglyfamous to 35 starts, 10 wins, five seconds and five thirds for a bankroll of $320,948. It was his third win in five tries at the 550-yard distance. Last year, he lost the SLM Big Daddy to O Donovan Rossa by a half-length in the mud. O Donovan Rossa could only manage a seventh-place finish Sunday.

Wascallywittlewabbit went off at 6-1 odds and the $2 exacta payoff for these two champions was a generous $104.20. The other horses that made this such an incredible race were 2-1 favorite Big Dynasty, who came into this race on a five-win streak, including three of those in stakes events; Jess My Hocks (7-2), a multiple stakes winner, and O Donovan Rossa (9-2), last year’s winner of this race.

Runner-up Wascallywittlewabbit, owned by Rogers Farms, earned $9,910 to push his lifetime mark to $397,820. Mike Weatherly bred the 8-year-old son of Heza Motor Scotter in New Mexico from the Rabbits Rainbow mare Rabbits N Diamonds.

Jess Rocket Man earned $5,451 for finishing third. Owned-bred in Minnesota by Lunderborg LLC, the son of leading sire One Famous Eagle was ridden by jockey Edwin Escobedo for trainer Jason Olmstead. The multiple graded winner out of Paint Or More, by Pyc Paint Your Wagon, has banked $201,912.

Big Dynasty, Dak, Just Call Me Jess, O Donovan Rossa, Jess My Hocks, Cowboy Up Capo and American Favorite completed the field.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The 2023 Remington Park American Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa Season continues next week with a Thursday-Sunday schedule, March 16-19. First post time is 6 p.m. every day except Sunday when it’s 4 p.m. There are 10 races scheduled Thursday.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tracked by more than 172,000 fans on Facebook and 10,700 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $314 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, Remington Park live racing returns March 9 with the start of the 2023 American Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa season. Remington Park presents simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.