Texas Bling pulls a 128 to 1 shocker to land the Remington Springboard Mile
Many were amazed at the Oklahoma City track, when the 128 to 1 longshot, Texas Bling, surged between horses to post his first stakes victory in his stakes debut, the $300,000 Remington Springboard Mile at Remington Park on 9 December, 2012.
On the closing day of the Remington Park meet, the crowd witnessed an absolute shocker by a Texas homebred trained by Danele Durham, who was not surprised by his juvenile colt’s brilliant victory, when everyone had written him off. "We're not stunned. We knew this colt could do it all along.”
Owned by Hall’s Family Trust, the 2-year-old dark bay colt by Too Much Bling, showed a lot of heart in the deep stretch and was able to down, Will Take Charge, by a decisive margin of 1 ¾ lengths. Will Take Charge is out of the grade 1 winning mare, Take Charge Lady.
The 8 to 5 favourite in the field of 12, Exploring, was never in the picture, and finished 10, as Worldventure finished third on the day.
Jockey Erick McNeil was aboard Texas Bling in the Remington Springboard Mile, and they started off at the back until the half-mile marker, but the jockey pushed him to go three wide in the stretch, and was able to split rivals to make room.
Once he got all the space he wanted, Texas Bling drew clear and registered a magnificent victory, his second in 10 starts.
"I was just trying to look for a place to go, there was no room," said McNeil. "I was on Cliff's (jockey Cliff Berry aboard Worldventurer) heels pretty much the whole way. It was just one of those things, when you pick up your head and a hole opens. He just shot through there for me and ran a huge race. Pinch me if this is real."
Out of Country Pine mare Anythingmore, Texas Bling, broke his maiden at the eighth attempt at Remington Park on 11 October, 2012, and then went on to participate in the El Joven Stakes at Retama Park, but couldn’t make an impact, as he finished 6th on the day.
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