Springboard Mile offers 2025 Kentucky Derby qualifying points

Five stakes winners and six more horses that are stakes-placed were among 33 juveniles nominated to the $300,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park. The track's top event for 2-year-olds is the headliner on the final night of the season, Friday, December 13.

The Springboard Mile once again carries valuable 2025 Kentucky Derby qualifying pointsfor the top five finishers in a 10-5-3-2-1 fashion.

2024 Springboard Mile Field & Odds

Race 12 at Remington Park

Friday, December 13 - Post 11:26 PM

Entry	Horse	ML Odds	Jockey	Trainer
1	Coal Battle	10-1	Juan Vargas 121 Lbs	Lonnie Briley
2	Blue Angel	15-1	David Cabrera 121 Lbs	Steven Asmussen
3	Speed King	7-2	Rafael Bejarano 121 Lbs	Ron Moquett
4	Dominant Spirit	15-1	Jose Alvarez 121 Lbs	W. Calhoun
5	Brooklyn Alley Cat	20-1	Iram Diego 121 Lbs	Danny Pish
6	Essay	20-1	Richard Eramia 121 Lbs	W. Calhoun
7	Jolly Samurai	4-1	Rene Diaz 121 Lbs	Danny Pish
8	Complex Music	8-1	Stewart Elliott 121 Lbs	Steven Asmussen
9	Dr Ruben M	6-1	Edwin Maldonado 121 Lbs	Doug O'Neill
10	Medicine Dog	20-1	Floyd Wethey Jr. 121 Lbs	Sarah Davidson
11	Mister Omaha	5-1	Luis Quinonez 121 Lbs	Joe Offolter
12	Keeno	12-1	Jermaine Bridgmohan 121 Lbs	Steven Asmussen

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Two of the top three trainers in the nation were prominent in the nominations, including the sport's all-time top conditioner in history - Steve Asmussen. Currently second in the country in horses' earnings this year, behind only Chad Brown, Asmussen has won the Springboard Mile an unprecedented seven times. He has nominated four to this year's edition. Asmussen's horses have earned more than $27 million this year, second only to Brown's $30 million-plus, according to Equibase statistics.

Brad Cox, who is third in earnings this year, about a million dollars behind Asmussen, had the most nominations to the Springboard Mile with seven 2-year-olds. Among his top juveniles that Cox could enter is the undefeated Sacrosanct, a New York-bred colt by Honest Mischief, out of the Unbridled's Song mare Vibrato, owned by Lady Sheila Stable, Net Birdie and Schwing Thoroughbreds.

Sacrosanct is three-for-three in his career with two stakes wins - the $125,000 Bertram F. Bongard Stakes (Sept. 22) and the $200,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes (Oct. 27), both for New York-breds at Belmont at Aqueduct, earning $228,250 in those races.

Cox's other Springboard nominees are Admiral Dennis, Comes a Time, Disco Time, Hot Property, Instant Replay and Uncle Jim. All are maiden winners, a couple of them certainly passing the eye test in their maiden events, looking to take that next step up. Disco Time was a 3-3/4 lengths winner at first asking in a maiden special weight open race at seven furlongs at Churchill Downs on Nov. 1.

Admiral Dennis won at the Springboard Mile distance in his maiden event at Churchill by 3-1/2 lengths on Nov. 7; Hot Property won by 3-3/4 lengths in his career debut at Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Nov. 24, going 1-1/16 miles, and Uncle Jim won by three lengths at first asking at Keeneland on Oct. 17, going seven furlongs.

Asmussen, leading trainer at Remington Park, going for his 19th training title here, has no stakes winners nominated, but he has some interesting 2-year-olds if the weather comes up sloppy and wet on Springboard Mile day. Blue Angel broke his maiden over a sloppy track at Remington Park on Nov. 18, Extradition won for the first time over a sloppy Churchill Downs track on Nov. 2 and Keeno has proven he can be competitive at the mile distance after running second against first-level allowance horses on Nov. 25 at Remington Park, losing to Brooklyn Alley Cat by 1-1/4 lengths.

Another Asmussen nominee is Complex Music who has had six races, all sprints. He has been soundly defeated in stakes races the only two times he has tried black-type company, but then he comes back in his last start, winning an allowance race for non-winners of two by eight lengths at Horseshoe Indianapolis on Oct. 22.

Complex Music tried stakes horses for the first time in the $100,000 Prairie Gold Juvenile Stakes at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, on July 6 and ran sixth, beaten 16 lengths. That was a 5-1/2-furlong race. Asmussen moved him to Kentucky Downs for his next start and switched him to the grass in the $1,000,000 National Thoroughbred League Juvenile Sprint Stakes at 6-1/2 furlongs greensward. He finished seventh, beaten 12-1/4 lengths.

Asmussen's seven Springboard winners include Otto the Conqueror (2023), Shoplifted (2019), Long Range Toddy (2018), Bayerd (2014), Test Boy (2005), Smooth Bid (2004) and Shawklit Man (2002).

Doug O'Neill, a multiple Kentucky Derby-winning trainer from the West Coast, who won the 2016 Derby with Nyquist and 2012 with I'll Have Another, has nominated three juveniles to the Springboard.

O'Neill has been a magician with 2-year-olds and may need some more as two of the three he has nominated are still maidens and the other is a maiden winner. Only one of his three has dipped into the stakes pool and that is Rank, still a maiden, but raced in the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity in California, running sixth at seven furlongs, beaten 13 lengths.

The O'Neill maiden winner is Dr Ruben M, who won by three-quarters of a length at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., on Oct. 14 at the one-mile distance against open maiden horses.

The Remington Park flag will be carried well by at least three possible entries - undefeated Jolly Samurai, three-time winner Mister Omaha, and Dominant Spirit.

Jolly Samurai, an $8,000 purchase by owner Jake Brown, trained by Danny Pish, has won all three of his starts at Remington Park, including the $75,000 Kip Deville Stakes on Sept. 29 at six furlongs and then the $75,000 Clever Trevor on Oct. 25 when he stretched out to seven furlongs.

Springboard Mile Stakes Race History

Remington Park's signature race for juveniles was given its current name and mid-December calendar slot in 2009, having previously been run as the Remington MEC Mile Stakes. In the years since, steady purse increases have served to significantly raise the profile of the one-mile race.

In multiple respects, the Remington Springboard Mile ranks among the youngest Kentucky Derby prep races. It's also one of the fastest-growing prep races in terms of national recognition and impact.

Case in point? During the first decade of its revamped conditions, the Springboard Mile produced five Derby starters. Leading the charge was the aptly named Will Take Charge, who turned in a gallant front-running effort to finish second in the 2012 Springboard Mile. The following season, Will Take Charge ran in all three legs of the Triple Crown and was voted champion three-year-old male.

The rising prominence of the Springboard Mile didn't go unnoticed by Churchill Downs. In 2017, the Springboard Mile was added to the Road to the Kentucky Derby prep race schedule, offering qualification points to the top five finishers on a 10-5-3-2-1 basis.

The horses aren't the only stars competing in the Springboard Mile. Prominent jockeys and trainers have also set their sights on the increasingly rich prize. In 2017, three-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Victor Espinoza guided Greyvitos to victory in the stakes-record time of 1:37.14. Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen has saddled seven winners, including It'sallinthechase, who parlayed victory in the 2001 Remington MEC Mile into a start in the 2002 Kentucky Derby.

Asmussen also saddled 2018 Springboard Mile winner Long Range Toddy, who inadvertently had an outsized impact on the 2019 Kentucky Derby. When the ultimately victorious Maximum Security ducked out sharply on the final turn, Long Range Toddy was forced to steady sharply in traffic, part of a chain reaction that famously led to the disqualification of Maximum Security.

Suffice to say, the Remington Springboard Mile has earned its place on the Road to the Kentucky Derby and should only continue to grow in stature.

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