OHIO DERBY DAY WAS ONE OF THOSE GOOD NEWS – BAD NEWS DAYS
- chris lialios
- Jul 17
- 2 min read
Despite the sweltering heat, wide-rimmed hats-off to Thistledown who drew a good crowdout to the races. They presented a betable card with four $75,000 Ohio Stakes, the $250,000 Lady Jacquiline and the Grade 3 $500,000 Ohio Derby. The combined handle on and off track, totaled $4,874,624.
All of the HMDC runners and those partnered with Tast of Victory Stable competed in Accredited races. First up was I Belong First and in racing parlance, “just put a line through that effort.” While she showed expected sweat along the neck with most of the others, what was not expected was a 17- minute delay at the gate. After some bad actors were settled or scratched, the gates opened and she broke mid-pack and felt just fine to be there for the rest of the race. She added blinkers for the first time and trainer Megan Fadlovich willupdate us on her read of the race. That IS...if she’s not too busy getting her photo taken in the winner’s circle.
“Say Wha?” We had two HMDC connections associated with the upset winner Gabadost ($94.00 win). The filly is a daughter of Duncan Farm’s Fort Larned and is trained by Megan Fadlovich. Congrats.
Next up was the $75,000 George Lewis Memorial at 1 1/16 and Lust for Life was carrying our flag. The front end was playing favorable most of the day. Oklahoma beat him to the punch and Lust for Life spent most of the race battling for the second spot with the 2 to 5 favorite Villian. Lust for Life tired in the lane from those efforts while Villian, with Jose Ortiz in the saddle, went on to win easily.
(HMDC’s Lofty Cowtown strutted over to the paddock to defend her crown in the Dr. T.F. Classen Stakes slated for 6 furlongs. She had been rested since her winning effort on March 30 at Mahoning. Even-money Authoritarian shot out of the gate and secured the advantage of the escalator-like rail and never looked back. If she had, she’d see “Lofty” move from the rail to the four-path with a determined run on the turn, but Authoritarian held her sway. The Megan Fadlovich runner did last for the second spot in the stake, pushing her career record to 18-6-2-3 for $191,927.
