Alexandria takes on males in Parker Memorial

Alexandria, a stellar performer last year as a juvenile, may in theory be getting class relief as she returns from Kentucky to face her fellow Ohio-breds. But she will be facing a solid group that includes stakes-performing males Morestride, Uptown, Brig, and King B B in the $75,000 Daryl E. Parker Memorial Tall Stack Stakes for Ohio-bred 3-year-olds on Thursday at Belterra Park.

The Tall Stack, at 6 1/2 furlongs, is an annual fixture at Belterra. This year, the memorial recognizes longtime Midwest racing official Daryl E. Parker, who died after a battle with cancer in March in his hometown of Cincinnati. Parker was the first African-American to serve as a steward in U.S. racing history and is the father of jockey Deshawn Parker.

Alexandria, co-bred by her trainer Tim Hamm with WinStar Farm and owned by those two entities in partnership with Michael Lewis, has won all four of her starts against Ohio-breds by open margins. Those include a length victory in the Tah Dah Stakes at Belterra; a nine-length score in the Miss Ohio at Thistledown; and a 6 3/4-length romp in the John W. Galbreath Memorial on the Best of Ohio program at Mahoning Valley.

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In between, she made creditable forays into graded stakes company at Churchill Downs against strong company. She was third in the Grade 3 Pocahontas Stakes to Girl Daddy and Crazy Beautiful, the latter the winner of this year’s Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks. She also was sixth in the Grade 2 Golden Rod, of which the top three finishers, Travel Column, Clairiere, and Coach, all started in last Friday’s Kentucky Oaks.

Alexandria made her 3-year-old debut in an allowance on April 2 at Keeneland, finishing fourth. Santiago Gonzalez will be in the irons Thursday.

Morestride, Uptown, and Brig were second, third, and fourth, respectively, in the Juvenile on the Best of Ohio program last October. That was just the second career start for Morestride, who bounced out of it to win both his starts this year, most recently the Howard B. Noonan Stakes, in which the Grade 1-placed filly Esplanande was second and Brig was third.

Uptown was second to Esplanande in both the Hoover Stakes and the Cleveland Kindergarten last year. King B B was third in the Hoover. Henry Mac, most recently fourth in the Noonan, completes the field of six.