The 2021 Ohio Sires Stakes season kicks off on Sunday (May 2) at Miami Valley Raceway, with three divisions for sophomore fillies. Additionally, four divisions of sophomore colts will race at the same venue on Monday (May 3). Post time both days is 2:05 p.m. ET.
A total of 27 fillies will race in OHSS events on Sunday, with one $60,000 division of nine trotters and a pair of $50,000 divisions of pacing fillies with nine contestants each. Likewise, on Monday afternoon, two $50,000 divisions of trotting colts and two $50,000 divisions of pacing colts will line up behind the starting gate.
This season the Ohio Sires Stakes nominations are significantly, with 1,071 foals nominated as opposed to 930 in 2020. Of those, 314 are three-year-olds, up from 300 in 2020, while 757 are two-year-olds, up from 630 nominees during the same time period.
Most of Ohio’s finest three-year-old colts and geldings were showcased at Miami Valley on Saturday (April 24) in a pair of $50,000 Scarlet & Gray Invitationals.
In the trot, Winning Ticket ran his win streak to three with a convincing 1:54.1 victory over stablemate Panzano and Lockbox. Driver Aaron Merriman made every call a winning one through fractions of :28, :58 and 1:26.4 before closing in :27.2 to win in hand by over two lengths. A winner of an elimination and the $40,000 final of the recent James K. Hackett Memorial at Miami Valley, the son of Triumphant Caviar now has seven wins in 11 starts, and his bounty has grown to $147,547. His sophomore season has started with three victories in three tries, earning $52,500 in purses.
After a two month absence, Its A Herbie returned to the Miami Valley winner’s circle following Tuesday (April 6) afternoon’s $20,000 Open Trot.
Using the winner’s customary come-from-behind tactic, driver LeWayne Miller rallied him from sixth, and last, at the half and fourth at the top of the stretch to edge Lane Of Stone in 1:52.4. The clocking marked lifetime best for the five-year-old son Here Comes Herbie. Shake It Mary earned the show dough in the compact field.
Verlin Yoder owns Its A Herbie, who now has 17 victories and eclipsed the half-million earnings plateau with the win.
Ohio-sired trotting colts went postward in two $15,000 elimination divisions of the annual James K. Hackett Memorial late-closer, which kicks off the Buckeye stakes season. The $40,000 championship leg will be raced next Tuesday (April 13).