Photo:

Remington Park / Dustin Orona Photography

Remington Park’s winningest owner Danny Caldwell of Poteau, Okla.,
has found the winning formula for taking down the $175,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup. For the third time in this race, Caldwell won Friday night with a horse he
claimed, this time with Inca Empire, an 8-1 long shot.

“I claimed (2012 winner) Fifth Date and Dont Tell Noobody (2020)
and now this one,” Caldwell said. “We tried him in a turf race first time out
this meet, and we could tell he didn’t like that.”

Click here for Remington Park entries and results.

Inca Empire ran seventh, beaten by four lengths in the $50,000 Red
Earth Stakes on the grass. Caldwell’s outfit tried plan B, back to the dirt and
pointed toward the Oklahoma Classics Cup.

“The plan doesn’t always work out like this,” Caldwell said.

Jockey Isaac Castillo got a leg up from trainer Óscar Flores and
took over in mid-stretch to pull away for the victory.

The race included multiple-stakes winners Number One Dude and Flat
Hanby, but as they say, Inca Empire can’t read the past performances and didn’t
care. Number One Dude could do no better than fourth, and post-time favorite Flat
Hanby ran last after stumbling twice out of the gate and never showing any
interest after that.

Caldwell bought Inca Empire, a 5-year-old, Oklahoma-bred gelding
by Midshipman out of Kipling mare Inca Miss, for $20,000 from a race June 30 at
Prairie Meadows. Inca Empire raced two more times in Iowa before his new owner
loaded him in a trailer and brought him home.

Inca Empire’s best race for Caldwell before the stakes win Friday night
was when he ran second, beaten by only a half-length in an optional $30,000
claiming race at Prairie Meadows on July 22. With the Oklahoma Classics Cup
triumph he improved lifetime to 28: 8-3-3. He picked up $78,600 to bring his
career earnings to $215,209.

Inca Empire bested runner-up C W Prize (5-2) by 1 3/4 lengths in
the 1 1/16-mile race over the fast main track. The second-place finisher was
another 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Winters Lion (3-1). The rest of the order was
Number One Dude (7-2) fourth, Soul Sacrifice (19-1) fifth, Okie Smoke (26-1)
sixth and Flat Hanby (2-1) seventh.

The winner hit the wire at 1:45.31 over the fast track after
biding his time in fifth up the backstretch. He didn’t take over until the top
of the homestretch, where he was a full length in front. He cut into early
fractions set by C W Prize, who was out in 24.66, 49.78 and 1:14.74. Inca
Empire hit the mile at 1:39.03.

Inca Empire paid $18.60 to win, $8.40 to place and $5.00 to show.
He was bred by Bryan Hawk, who bred four of the 10 victors of the Classics races
Friday.

It was the first win in the Cup series for both Castillo and
Flores.