Large, talented field set for Lady Jacqueline
?q=100)
There are four stakes on Saturday’s Ohio Derby undercard at Thistledown – three for runners bred or accredited in the Buckeye State, and a rich prize for open fillies and mares that again features an Ohio-bred standout.
The $250,000 Lady Jacqueline Stakes, for fillies and mares going 1 1/8 miles, includes Candlelight Hours, fourth in this race last year and whose local experience can’t be discounted. The mare, an Elkhorn Oaks homebred trained by James Jackson, is a seven-time stakes winner who has earned more than $775,000. Those victories include the 2021 Best of Ohio John W. Galbreath for juvenile fillies and the 2023 Best of Ohio Distaff.
Candlelight Hours finished third in the 2025 Best of Ohio Distaff and appeared to emerge from her winter freshening in good form. She opened her 7-year-old season with an allowance win, then was second in the J. William Petro Memorial on May 7.
Candlelight Hours, a multiple open allowance winner, finished fourth in the 2025 Lady Jacqueline as Goldeneye Magic, the longest shot on the board, nosed out favored Peignoir. Just Be Quiet was third, and she and Peignoir return for this year’s edition.
At 10-1, Candlelight Hours’s local ability makes her intriguing, particularly in the exotics. However, this year’s field is larger and perhaps of deeper quality.
Since the 2025 Lady Jacqueline, Peignoir was a stakes winner at Oaklawn and was third in the Grade 2 Doubledogdare in April at Keeneland. Nerazurri and Standoutsensation are likewise graded stakes-placed. Although making her first start on dirt in nearly two years, Tirupati also has class as a Grade 3 winner on turf last year.
Standoutsensation won four straight races from July to December 2025, including the Turnback the Alarm at Aqueduct and the Pippin at Oaklawn. She was second by a half-length in the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic, then fourth in the Grade 2 Azeri, in which Eclipse Award champion Nitrogen was third. She was most recently third in the Dig A Diamond on April 25 at Oaklawn.
“I think for her, consistency is her game,” trainer Kinnon LaRose said. “She’s a mare that always shows up. She gives you her best every time. When she gets on that little hot streak and gets some confidence in her, she’s really good, so we’re trying to find that form again.”
Standoutsensation is likely to be forwardly placed in the Lady Jacqueline.
“She’s a filly that’s always forward and drawn on the rail. I think that’s even more important for her now to break sharp and be forward, whether that’s on the lead or just off the pace,” LaRose said.
Also looking for a confidence boost is Nerazurri. She’s a consistent runner if you draw a line through her two most recent starts in Grade 1 company, from which she drops in class. A multiple stakes winner at the Oaklawn meet, she was second to Nitrogen, a stablemate in the Mark Casse barn, in the Grade 3 Bayakoa this year.
George Lewis Memorial
Another veteran Ohio-bred, the six-time stakes winner Villian, will look to defend his victory in the $75,000 George Lewis Memorial at 1 1/16 miles for older Ohio-accredited runners.
Villian, who has earned more than $530,000, had a four-race win streak snapped last out when second in the Sydney Gendelman Stakes. He looks to rebound as he picks up Jose Ortiz in the irons.
“Jose’s ridden him twice. I think he’s won on him both times,” said trainer Tim Hamm, whose prominent breeding and racing program is a major factor in all three of these state-restricted stakes. “He’s been a super horse for us. He’s in good form right now.”
Hamm also will saddle stakes winners Casual Attire and Shadowy in this field.
:: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.
Cleveland Gold Cup
Mark My Words and Water Into Wine, separated by just a neck after a hard-fought stretch run in the off-turf Green Carpet last time out, get a rematch in Saturday’s $75,000 Daniel Stearns Cleveland Gold Cup for Ohio-bred 3-year-olds.
Mark My Words, already a multi-time stakes winner for Robert Gorham, crossed the line first but was disqualified after bumping his foe multiple times in the stretch. That promoted Water Into Wine to his first stakes victory.
Hamm trains Water Into Wine, as well as Green Carpet third-place finisher Global Event and Strategic Profile, making just his fourth career start. In a delayed start to this season, Strategic Profile is coming off a sprint allowance win against older runners May 28.
“He has a ton of upside,” Hamm said. “I think he’s dying to go longer. I think he’ll definitely move forward, and I really believe the route of ground will help him move forward as well.”
The filly R U Enticed steps up to face males and gets a three-pound weight allowance off a 3 3/4-length win in the Queen City Oaks. She posted a 75 Beyer Speed Figure, one of the top last-out numbers in this field. Mark My Words and Water Into Wine each earned an 83 Beyer in the Green Carpet.
T.F. Classen Memorial
Rounding out the state-restricted stakes action is the $75,000 Dr. T.F. Classen Memorial for Ohio-accredited fillies and mares.
Parlay is favored for Hamm, who also sends out the class-rising Waves of Liberty. This four-time stakes winner was third in an open allowance in her 4-year-old debut, and while most of her wins have come going longer, she is 5-2-2-0 at Thistledown at this six-furlong distance.
“She’s pretty diversified,” Hamm said. “I think she likes going long a little better than short, so that would be a strike against us in this spot. However, she’s won some nice races going short. She needed her race quite a bit, and we knew that going in. She also ran with tougher company. She will definitely move forward off it, and she will get back to accredited company, which she’ll appreciate.”
Authoritarian Girl, Lofty Cowtown, and Miz Keeta swept the trifecta in last year’s Classen Memorial.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.