Belterra Park opens Friday; Thistledown on Monday

Racing continues in Ohio as Belterra Park in Cincinnati opens its live racing meet Friday and Thistledown in North Randall opens Monday. Belterra will get a running start to its season over the first two weekends of the meet, which both include stakes, with next weekend’s activity bolstered by a celebration of the Run for the Roses in neighboring Kentucky. The track continues through the summer with a stakes slate that showcases the Buckeye State’s breeding program.

Meanwhile, Thistledown will prepare to host graded stakes action and one of Ohio’s richest racing programs in June.

Belterra opens its season Friday and will race through Sept. 29. Opening weekend is anchored by Saturday’s $75,000 Edward Babst/Albert Palacios Memorial Handicap for Ohio-breds. The following weekend, the track will simulcast and celebrate the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby while also carding live racing programs.

Friday’s races will be followed by a fireworks show and live music. Saturday, the track will host a beer garden and will distribute free Kentucky Derby glasses. The Saturday program also showcases Ohio-bred 3-year-olds in the $75,000 Tall Stack Stakes.

Belterra Park’s stakes schedule also includes the Tomboy Stakes on May 12; the Green Carpet Stakes on May 26; the Sydney Gendelman Memorial Handicap on June 8, when the track also will simulcast the Belmont Stakes; the Hoover Stakes and Cincinnatian Stakes on July 6; the Buckeye Native Stakes on July 20; the Norm Barron Queen City Oaks on July 21; the Vivacious Handicap on Aug. 4; the Horizon Stakes on Aug. 11; and the Tah Dah Stakes on Aug. 25. All are $75,000 events for Ohio-bred or Ohio-accredited runners.

Thistledown will race through Oct. 19. The track will feature a Kentucky Derby simulcast on May 4, plus the $75,000 Dr. T.F. Classen Memorial for Ohio-accredited fillies and mares.

Thistledown’s biggest day of racing comes June 22 when it hosts the Grade 3, $500,000 Ohio Derby for 3-year-olds. Solid stakes horses, including graduates of the Triple Crown series, regularly contest the event, and last year’s winner, Core Beliefs, came back to capture this year’s Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap.

The Ohio Derby undercard includes the $75,000 George Lewis Memorial Stakes for Ohio-accredited runners and the $75,000 J. Wm Petro Memorial Handicap for Ohio-bred fillies and mares.

Thistledown has an additional open-company race in the $200,000 Lady Jacqueline Stakes for fillies and mares on Aug. 17. The track’s stakes schedule is rounded out by the Michael F. Rowland Memorial Handicap on May 12; the Michael G. Mackey Memorial-Angenora Stakes on June 1; the Daniel Stearns Cleveland Gold Cup on June 29; the Miss Ohio Stakes on July 20; the Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes on Aug. 3; the Honey Jay Stakes on Aug. 10; the Governor’s Buckeye Cup and Pay the Man Stakes on Aug. 24; the Scarlet and Gray Handicap on Sept. 21; the Catlaunch Stakes on Sept. 28; and the Diana Stakes and Emerald Necklance Stakes on Oct. 5. All are $75,000 events for Ohio-bred or Ohio-accredited runners.