Another weekend presents itself and I’m taking a little road trip to catch some live racing! I will be driving North of the Horse Capital of the World for my first race in Ohio, my first race at Thistledown, my first Ohio Derby!
The Ohio Derby is the premier race of Thistledown. Located in North Randall, Ohio (near Cleveland) and packed with restaurants, 1.5 thousand gaming machines, simulcasting and live racing the original track opened in 1931. Currently, under the ownership of Jack entertainment, the formal name is Jack Thistledown Racino. The track is a 1 mile dirt oval.
The Ohio Derby is a Grade III and it is Ohio’s finest stakes race. The Ohio Derby was inaugurated in 1876. This 83rd edition has 9 entries. The distance is 1 and 1/8 miles (9 furlongs) on dirt and it remains a great test for 3 year-olds. Mo Tom won last year and one of my very favorite’s, Mr. Z, won in 2015.
A bit shorter than the 143rd Grade I Kentucky Derby of 1 and 1/4 mile (10 furlongs) this edition of the Ohio Derby brings about the return of 4 Kentucky Derby contenders in a field of 9 versus the KY Derby line-up of 20.
In the last 9 Ohio Derby’s exactly 4 winning Thoroughbreds had recently competed in the KY Derby. Tomorrow, Saturday 6/24/17, the Ohio Derby holds a $500,000 purse. 3K is awarded to the winner. Girvin is the morning-line favorite. His fellow KY Derby contenders that have entered are Irap, Untrapped and Fast and Accurate.
At the Buckeye State’s Thistledown Racino, the card begins at 1:40 P.M. EDT and finishes with the 9th race at 6 P.M. EDT. In the 8th race, posting at 5:30 P.M. EDT the field is as follows by post/#/horse/jockey/trainer/ M-L odds/finish in the KY Derby:
- 3/1A/Talk Less/Luis H. Colon/Jeffrey A. Radosevich/12-1/N/A
- 4/1A/Vibe/Ricardo Feliciano/Robert B. Hess Jr./12-1/N/A
- 8/1X/Game Over/Jacob Radosevich/Jeffrey A. Radosevich/12-1/N/A
- 1/2/Irap/Julien Leparoux/Doug F. O’Neill/3-1/18th
- 2/3/Untrapped/Ricardo Santana Jr./Steven M. Asmussen/9-2/12th
- 5/4/Sorry Erik/Kent J. Desormeaux/Kent Desormeaux/6-1/N/A
- 6/5/Girvin/Mike E. Smith/Joe Smith/2-1/13th
- 7/6/Fast and Accurate/T.D. Houghton/Michael J. Maker/8-1/17th
- 9/7/Hinton/John McKee/Thomas Drury, Jr./20-1/N/A
In an interesting 3 horse draw from just one owner, I am very intrigued to see who is still competing for our best 3 year-old champion. Shoot me a message if I happen to be at your home track tomorrow. If not, let me know where I need to see live racing at its best next.
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