Trainer Mark Casse's stakes winning filly Strategic Bird headlines a field of eleven 3-year-old fillies set to compete in the second running of the Cheryl C. White Memorial Stakes this Saturday at Hollywood Gaming Mahoning Valley Race Course in Youngstown, Ohio.
Strategic Bird enters the race off back to back third place stakes efforts and will be searching for her first win since scoring in the Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa in December. Also looking to cross the wire first are a pair of fillies out of the barn of trainer Anthony Farrior, stakes-placed Beneath the Stars and supplemental entry Jackie the Joker.
The race is named in honor of the late Cheryl C. White, the first African American female jockey to win a Thoroughbred race in the United States.
“We are proud to be able to recognize a pioneer for not only women, but African Americans, in the sport of racing,” said Elizabeth Rogers, Assistant Director of Racing. “Cheryl's memory and her story should be known to a wider audience.”
In a jockey career spanning more than twenty years, Cheryl would eventually retire with over 750 career wins before moving into the stewards stand in California. Ultimately, she would find herself returning to her home state of Ohio where she continued to work in the industry joining the racing office at the newly opened Mahoning Valley Race Course in 2014. She continued to work in the office until her passing in 2019.
“Cheryl rarely spoke about her riding career, that wasn't her way,” said Mahoning Valley Racing Secretary Ed Vomacka. “I didn't know until I saw that she had ridden in the Lady Legends at Pimlico.”
Ask anyone who worked alongside her at Mahoning Valley and they would say much the same. Cheryl may have been humble about her career but the memory of her contributions to the sport lives on.
The Cheryl C. White Memorial Stake is scheduled as the sixth race on the card with an estimated post time of 2:34 p.m. and will be included in two of three mandatory payouts scheduled for closing day, the Buckeye Jackpot Pick 6 and the Pick 4. The Pick 5 is also scheduled for a mandatory payout and covers races one through five. Handicappers will have one final opportunity to take down the Buckeye Jackpot Pick 6 this Friday, April 15.
Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course's current race meet ends this Saturday, April 16. Racing is scheduled to return for the 2022 Fall race meet on Friday, October 21.
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