Thedayofthegrey, Pacific Coast Win Ohio Thoroughbred Race Fund Stakes Races At Thistledown

A pair of $100,000 Ohio Thoroughbred Race Fund Stakes (OTRF) were contested early on the JACK Thistledown program on Saturday, August 14 at JACK Thistledown in North Randall, Ohio.

Both events were for Ohio-registered 2-year-olds at six furlongs, with the first being the Best of Ohio Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes that featured a field of nine colts and geldings, while the second was the Best of Ohio Miss Ohio Stakes that saw six fillies vie.

Thedayofthegrey left no doubt he was much the best in the Cleveland Kindergarten, using a front-stepping effort to score in 1:12.06 under the handling of rider Sonny Leon. Bred by trainer Robert Cline, the grey son of Twinspired-Sharon's Way, by Proud Citizen left the gate at 9-1 odds and returned $20 on a two-dollar ticket to his backers. Thedayofthgrey bested 6-5 rival Tantrum (Malcolm Franklin) by nearly two lengths, with 20-1 Rumble Strip Ron (Scott Spieth) third and 6-5 Condemnation (Luan Machado) fourth.

Thedayofthegrey had only two previous starts under his belt coming into the Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes, and after winning his maiden effort on Jun 1 at Thistledown, was third in the $75,000 Hoover Stakes on July 23 at Belterra Park in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“He stumbled in the Hoover and kind of lost his footing,” explained Cline, who owns the youngster in partnership with Richard Wilkinson. “He broke well today, however, and he's an accredited-bred, so that shows what a nice colt he is.”

Thedayofthegrey, a striking deep grey gelding who dons a white hood with can't-see-back blinkers over a white bridle, now has $85,500 in career earnings as a result of today's triumph.

Pacific Coast gave an impressive showing of herself in the 53rd running of the Best of Ohio Miss Ohio Stakes, flying under the wire in 1:11.88 for rider Jose Bracho.

“Tim gave me the opportunity to ride this filly and I'm grateful for that,” Bracho said. “At the start, we got into a little bit of trouble, but once we got in the clear, by the three-eights, she just did it all by herself.”

The well-built, dark chestnut filly with the tiny star and beautifully braided mane, walked into the Thistledown winner's circle like an old campaigner for trainer Tim Hamm and owners-breeders WinStar Farm and Blazing Meadows Farm. Pacific Coast is by Exaggerator, out of the Indian Ocean mare Ocean Princess.

“Our operation started in 1992 or 1993,” Hamm stated. “We came out and watched the Best Of Ohio races at Thistledown and decided that was the way to go. We started breeding our own and our first crop was in 1995. We get our horses ready in Florida, and our partnership with WinStar has really boosted our program.”

Pacific Coast, who broke from the gate as the 6-1 choice, won by open lengths over 5-2 rival Candlelight Hours (Malcolm Franklin) with 4-1 Flatter Her Again (John McKee) third and 5-1 Squid (Luis Rivera) fourth. Pacific Coast now has $78,900 in her career coffers.

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Kelsi Harr Rides First Stakes Winner In Off-The-Turf Minnesota HBPA Distaff

Weather was no friend on Thursday to Canterbury Park which had three $50,000 turf stakes scheduled. Relentless rain in Shakopee that began in the early morning hours and continued into late afternoon forced those stakes races to be transferred from the soaked grass course to a sloppy main track resulting in numerous scratches in the Brooks Fields, Minnesota HBPA Distaff and Honor the Hero Stakes.

Best Kept Secret and jockey Kelsi Harr led a four-horse field gate to wire in the one-mile Minnesota HBPA Distaff, holding off defending champion Beach Flower. The victory provided jockey Kelsi Harr with her first stakes win. Best Kept Secret is trained by Robert Cline and owned by Tracy Hersman.

“This is a great way to start the meet. We backed off on her after Oaklawn,” Cline said. “I was worried we didn't have her tight enough. It showed in the last sixteenth [of a mile].”

Harr sent Best Kept Secret to the front, setting comfortable fractions early. At the top of the stretch the 2 1/2 length lead began to diminish as Beach Flower gained ground.

“She was drifting out and I could hear [Beach Flower] coming,” Harr said.

Best Kept Secret had just enough left to hold on to win by a head. She paid $2.60 as the prohibitive favorite.

Lord Dragon took advantage of a quick pace set by favorite Hieronymus and Tut's Revenge, closing in the stretch to win the one-mile Brooks Fields Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths. Rider Ruben Fuentes and Lord Dragon survived a claim of foul by the rider of Tut's Revenge, the second-place finisher, after bumping between those two and Hieronymus in deep stretch. The stewards ruled there would be no change in the order of finish. Lord Dragon, trained by Chris Richard and owned by Jason Totaram, paid $9.60.

Drena's Star, the 3/5 favorite, won the five-furlong Honor the Hero Stakes by 2 1/2 lengths for trainer Robertino Diodoro and owners Randy Marriot, Clayton Weist and Rick Weist. Lindey Wade guided the winner along the rail to victory, returning $3.40.

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