Grade 1 Florida Derby winner White Abarrio, Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby winner Classic Causeway and Grade 3 Lexington Stakes winner Tawny Port – all exiting off-the-board finishes behind Rich Strike in the Kentucky Derby – head a line-up of eight 3-year-olds scheduled to go postward in Saturday's $500,000 Ohio Derby, a Grade 3 race going nine furlongs at JACK Thistledown in North Randall, Ohio.
The Ohio Derby, which dates back to 1876 when it was run at defunct Chester Park in Cincinnati, is one of four stakes on the program that also includes the $250,000 Lady Jacqueline Stakes for fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up. Multiple graded stakes winners Army Wife and Crazy Beautiful head up a field of 10 in that race. The Lady Jacqueline goes as the 10th race at 4:48 p.m. ET.
White Abarrio, trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. for C2 Racing Stable and La Milagrosa Stable, returned to his South Florida base following a 16th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Prior to his Florida Derby win, the Race Day colt won the G3 Holy Bull Stakes on Feb. 5. He's had a steady string of breezes at Gulfstream since the Kentucky Derby.
White Abarrio, winner of four of six starts, will be ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, who also rides Army Wife in the Lady Jacqueline.
Irad Ortiz Jr. comes in from New York to ride Tawny Port, who finished seventh in the Kentucky Derby for trainer Brad Cox and Peachtree Stable. The Pioneerof the Nile colt raced three times in five weeks, starting with a second-place finish in the G3 Jeff Ruby Steaks on the synthetic surface at Turfway Park on April 2. Two weeks later, Tawny Port rallied in the stretch to win the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland, then three weeks after that ran in the Kentucky Derby. Winner of three races in six starts, Tawny Port has been training at Churchill Downs.
Cox won the 2019 Ohio Derby with Owendale.
Kentucky West Racing and Clarke Cooper's Classic Causeway will be making his first start for trainer Kenny McPeek after being transferred from Brian Lynch following an 11th-place Kentucky Derby finish. Lynch had been reluctant to run the Giant's Causeway colt at Churchill Downs after running a dull 11th in the Florida Derby. Prior to that, Classic Causeway rang up back-to-back front-running victories at Tampa Bay Downs in the G3 Sam F. Davis and the Tampa Bay Derby. Brian Hernandez Jr. rides Classic Causeway, who breaks from the outside eight post.
McPeek, who won the 2003 Ohio Derby with Wild and Wicked, has had Classic Causeway training at Churchill Downs.
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas also has one victory in the Ohio Derby, with Mr. Z in 2015, and he brings Ethereal Road from Churchill Downs to Thistledown for owner Aaron Sones. The Quality Road colt, to be ridden by Rafael Bejarano, comes off a 4 3/4-length score in the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico on the Preakness undercard on May 21. Prior to that, Ethereal Road finished fourth in the Lexington, seventh in the G1 Blue Grass Stakes and second in the G2 Rebel. He was entered in the Kentucky Derby but scratched, allowing Rich Strike to draw in from the also eligible list.
Post time for the Ohio Derby is 5:35 p.m. and it's the final race on an 11-race card that begins at noon ET. All starters carry 126 pounds.
The field for the Ohio Derby, with jockey and morning line, follows.
1-Barese, Kendrick Carmouch, 9-2
2-Brigadier General, Reylu Gutierrez, 12-1
3-Droppin G's, Malcolm Franklin, 8-1
4-Ethereal Road, Rafael Bejarano, 4-1
5-White Abarrio, Tyler Gaffalione, 7-2
6-Pineapple Man, T.D. Houghton, 10-1
7-Tawny Port, Irad Ortiz Jr., 3-1
8-Classic Causeway, Brian Hernandez Jr., 6-1
The post White Abarrio, Tawny Port Among Eight Entered For Ohio Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
