Leona's Reward poised to return to winner's circle in Miss Southern Ohio

Leona’s Reward, among Ohio’s most consistent older females, will look to get back in the win column in Sunday’s $75,000 Miss Southern Ohio Stakes for statebred females on the Belterra Park turf.

Leona’s Reward, who is co-owned and trained by Tim Hamm, won three straight stakes earlier this year, taking the Ohio Debutante by 4 1/4 lengths, the Bobbie Bricker Memorial Handicap by 14 lengths, and the Dr. T.F. Classen Memorial Stakes by a length. That gave her five wins in six starts.

But then she finished a non-threatening third in three consecutive stakes – the George Lewis Memorial, Buckeye Native, and Pay the Man. Despite the slump, her Beyer Speed Figure of 69 in the Pay the Man is the top last-out number in this field, and her 75 for winning the Bricker Memorial is tops in the group for 2018.

Victor Lebron picks up the mount on Leona’s Reward, who drew outside in the field of seven.

Miss Southern Ohio entrants Birdacious, Grizabella, Hope’s Frog Song, and Mom Genes are all stakes placed. Lady Power and Shes My Girl complete the field.