Esplanande finds soft spot on a stakes-filled card

Saturday’s Ohio Derby card at Thistledown includes a pair of supporting stakes in the $250,000 Lady Jacqueline, which has drawn several accomplished fillies and mares, and the $75,000 Daniel Stearns Cleveland Gold Cup for statebred 3-year-olds.

But prior to those stakes, the Grade 1-placed Esplanande, the reigning statebred horse of the year, preps for her summer campaign in the fourth race, an allowance for statebred fillies and mares.

Esplanande, bred by trainer Tim Hamm’s Blazing Meadows Farm and WinStar Farm, and campaigned by those entities and Michael Lewis, won the Hoover Stakes and Cleveland Kindergarten last year in her home state before finishing second in the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga to Eclipse Award champion Vequist. This year, Esplanande opened her campaign with a pair of runner-up efforts in Ohio-bred stakes at Mahoning Valley.

She found her groove with a 13 1/4-length allowance victory at Thistledown, then won the Best of Ohio Diana Stakes by 12 1/2 lengths on a sloppy track on May 28.

“She’s doing great,” Hamm said. “There’s not a sprint stakes on the Ohio stakes schedule right at this point. This just fits her schedule really nicely, on a nice day. There’s some races [at Saratoga] we’re considering, and then, of course, the Ohio stakes.”

Luis Saez, in town to ride Promise Keeper in the Ohio Derby, picks up the mount on the filly.

Esplanande’s foes include Dancin’ Rosie, who has won four straight, including the Dr. T.F. Classen Memorial Stakes in May at Thistledown. The field also includes multiple stakes winners Circus Rings and Totally Obsessed.

Horologist and Crystal Ball, who both have Grade 1 form, ship in for the Lady Jacqueline.

Horologist had a fine campaign in 2020 for Bill Mott, winning the Grade 2 Beldame at Belmont and Grade 3 Molly Pitcher at Monmouth, and finishing third in the Grade 1 La Troienne behind champion Monomoy Girl. This year, Horologist won the Top Flight Invitational at Aqueduct and was most recently fourth in the Grade 3 Allaire duPont Distaff at Pimlico. The winner of that race, Spice Is Nice, is cross-entered in the Lady Jacqueline and Saturday’s Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs.

Also emerging from the duPont is Getridofwhatailesu, who finished third. The winner of the Pippin Stakes at Oaklawn earlier this year, Getridofwhatailesu has been facing the best in the division, finishing third to Shedaresthedevil and Letruska in the Grade 2 Azeri and then fourth in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom behind Letruska, Monomoy Girl, and Swiss Skydiver.

Crystal Ball was beaten a head in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks last summer at Saratoga. This year, she returned from a layoff to win allowance-level events at Santa Anita and Churchill Downs. She is making her first start for Rodolphe Brisset after being transferred from Bob Baffert.

Rounding out the stakes action is the Cleveland Gold Cup for Ohio-bred 3-yearolds going 1 1/8 miles. That distance should be to the liking of Buckeye Magic, the state’s champion 2-year-old male last season off a victory in the Best of Ohio Juvenile at 1 1/16 miles. He is coming off another victory at that distance for trainer Tommy Drury, as he took the off-the-turf Green Carpet Stakes last month at Thistledown.

Returning for another shot at Buckeye Magic is Green Carpet runner-up Henry Mac, along with Brig (fourth), Uptown (fifth), Historically (sixth), and Exprimir (seventh).