Final Beulah Park card features the Babst/Palacios Memorial

Beulah Park, which opened in Columbus, Ohio, in 1923 and is the state’s oldest Thoroughbred racetrack, closes its doors for good Saturday following what should be an interesting renewal of the $50,000 Babst/Palacios Memorial Handicap, a six-furlong dash for Ohio-breds. Penn National Gaming, which owns Beulah Park, will be transferring the track’s racing license to the now-under-construction Mahoning Valley Race Course in Austintown, Ohio, in the fall.

Diavoletto, 7 for 13 lifetime and the winner of three straight stakes to close his 2013 campaign, and Candy Bites, the defending race winner who is 3 for 3 at Beulah, are expected to vie for favoritism in the 13-horse field.

Diavoletto, who will be making his first start of the year, improved last year as a 4-year-old when he learned how to rate. Diavoletto’s trainer, Mike Rone, has a stunning 10-for-18 record for the meet. Rone gave the riding assignment to the capable Luis Gonzalez as Diavoletto tries to keep his streak intact.

Candy Bites, claimed for $17,500 on Nov. 28 at Fair Grounds by the shrewd Larry Rivelli outfit, has been freshened and is training forwardly at his Hawthorne base. Unable to defeat Diavoletto in two tries last year at ThistleDown, Candy Bites will seek to turn the tables over a track where he drubbed eight rivals by 3 1/4 lengths in the 2013 Babst/Palacios Memorial.

Among those with a chance to upset, Pyrite Green and the Jeff Radosevich-trained duo of Klassy Korbin and Raise the Reward have established credentials. Pyrite Green, who honed his turf-sprint skills over the Tampa Bay Downs lawn this winter, returns to the main track and will try to rally from off the pace under regular pilot Ricardo Feliciano.

Klassy Korbin, a speedy sort who owns a field-best 93 Beyer Speed Figure, could attempt a theft. Veteran Raise the Reward, the field’s leading earner with $393,533, finished third in last year’s Babst/Palacios, beaten 4 1/4 lengths, and still fits with these as an 8-year-old.

Trainer Eric Reed, who is 15 for 30 here this season, sends over Rookie Gladden, 4 for 4 here, and the quick Eyes Eyes Baby. Larry Smith, 9 for 17 with his 2014 Beulah runners, tries with the steadily improving Smoke Em Charlie.