Ohio-bred fillies experiment on turf in Tomboy Stakes

The $75,000 Tomboy Stakes for Ohio-bred 3-year-old fillies on the turf Sunday at Belterra Park not only features a large field, with 13 entrants, but a wide-open one. Only one of the entrants owns a previous win on turf, and many fillies in the field with prior stakes experience are trying grass for the first time in this 1 1/16-mile race.

Totally Obsessed has won all three of her starts this season, including the six-furlong Southern Park Stakes last time out. All those wins came under Luis Quinones, who remains in the irons Sunday. The filly, who is trained by Gary Johnson for Ron Paolucci, has made one start on turf, finishing 10th against open company in an optional-claiming race going 1 1/16 miles last year at Gulfstream Park.

Drillit, trained by Robert Gorham for Mast Thoroughbreds, won two stakes and placed in two others last year. The campaign was highlighted by a 16 1/4-length victory in the John W. Galbreath Memorial Stakes on the Best of Ohio showcase program. However, she is winless in three starts this year, including a fourth-place finish in the Southern Park.

Opulent is the only member of the field with a victory on turf, winning her maiden on the Belterra course last July for trainer Tim Hamm. In her only previous stakes try, she finished sixth in last year’s Miss Ohio Stakes sprinting on the dirt. Hamm also will saddle Absorb, who has won all three of her career starts by a combined 24 lengths. That includes a win in an off-the-turf allowance going this 1 1/16-mile distance at Belterra last time out on April 26. Drillit was a well-beated second in that spot.

Hey Adrian won the Emerald Necklace and Loyalty Stakes, both at six furlongs, as a 2-year-old. This will be her first attempt at a route distance. The field is rounded out by stakes-placed Candy Lane, Market Success, and Pearls in Charge; allowance winner Here Comes Jigs; and maiden winners Double D’s Revenge, H. F. Carmel, Mep, and Treasure Wilburnya. Market Success and Treasure Wilburnya are each unplaced in one outing on the turf.