Core Beliefs battles to victory in Ohio Derby

Core Beliefs faced some of the standouts of his division earlier this year when the eyes of the racing world were on the 3-year-old division. As the "second season" and summer derby circuit gets underway, the colt again faced familiar names, and stepped up to break through with his first stakes score in dramatic style in the Grade 3, $500,000 Ohio Derby on Saturday at Thistledown.

Core Beliefs ($7.60), with jockey Joe Talamo aboard for the first time, sat seventh in the field of 11 as Flameaway took the field through an opening half-mile in 47.22 seconds with Caloric and Trigger Warning just off his flank. Core Beliefs made a four-wide move around the far turn while Lone Sailor, sent away as the favorite, was rallying behind him in sixth. Trigger Warning held position gamely into the stretch, with Core Beliefs on nearly even terms with him, but Lone Sailor split horses nearing the furlong grounds to come to Core Beliefs with a rush. The two battled through the final stage, with Core Beliefs prevailing by a nose after a long drive. He finished the 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:51.08.

"We had a pretty good trip," Talamo said. "Three or four horses went to the lead, so I tried to tuck in as much as I could and let him do the work all the way around. Around the turn I got his momentum going, and he was all heart down the lane. There were a couple coming at him. He was giving me everything he had."

After Lone Sailor, it was a length back to Trigger Warning, who held third by a half length over Title Ready. Diamond King, Flameaway, Caloric, Takedown, Machismo, Dream Baby Dream, and O'Kratos rounded out the order of finish. Grade 2 Louisiana Derby runner-up Lone Sailor, multiple graded stakes winner Flameaway, and stakes winner Diamond King were all immediately exiting the Triple Crown series, with the best finish among those Lone Sailor's fifth in the Preakness Stakes.

Core Beliefs, who is trained by Peter Eurton for Gary Broad, finished third, beaten less than a length, in his career debut at Santa Anita in January. The Quality Road colt also finished third in his next outing in a maiden special weight that turned out to be a key race, with the one-two finishers both coming back to win. Eurton stretched Core Beliefs out to 1 1/16 miles for his third start, and the colt won by 3 1/4 lengths in wire-to-wire fashion, and was flattered when runner-up Longden also came back to win.

From there, Core Beliefs jumped straight into Grade 1 company, and was third behind eventual Triple Crown winner Justify and multiple Grade 1 winner Bolt d'Oro in the Santa Anita Derby. In his first start away from his California base, he led into the stretch of the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont last month, but was caught in the lane to finish second to Blended Citizen, now a multiple graded winner, by 1 1/2 lengths.