Arcadia's one-mile distance suits Ohio

ARCADIA, Calif. – Twice last year, Ohio was tried in graded stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita. Twice, he encountered trouble and was beaten three lengths.

“It was horrible,” trainer Paulo Lobo recalled on Wednesday.

There are no more hillside races in Ohio’s short-term future. Instead, Ohio will start in Saturday’s Grade 2 Arcadia Stakes at a mile on turf, his first start at the distance since a third behind Midnight Storm and Om in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile last August.

Midnight Storm was third in the Breeders’ Cup Mile and has since won two stakes on dirt. He is a leading contender for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 11. Om was beaten a nose in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint here in November.

Ohio has much to prove in the $200,000 Arcadia Stakes. Ohio’s third in the Del Mar Mile was his best result in five graded stakes since arriving from Argentina in late 2015.

“It was a good race even though Saturday’s race will be tougher for him,” Lobo said.

Tiago Pereira will ride Ohio for the first time Saturday. The jockey and trainer, both natives of Brazil, spent a moment visiting at Santa Anita on Wednesday.

“We’ll need to move forward, and we’ll see if this guy fits him,” Lobo said, gesturing to Pereira.

Drayden Van Dyke rode Ohio to a seventh in the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes on the hillside turf course here Dec. 26 but is out with a broken arm sustained in a spill last month. Ohio was beaten 3 1/4 lengths by Bettys Bambino in the San Simeon.

The Arcadia Stakes will have a small field that is expected to be led by the graded stakes winners Bolo, Ring Weekend, and What a View.

There are two Grade 2 races on Saturday. The $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes is led by Vale Dori, a winner of two Grade 2 races in recent months – the Bayakoa Stakes at Del Mar on Dec. 3 and the La Canada Stakes here on Jan. 14.