Ohio horse of the year Altissimo returns on Best of Ohio Day
Ohio-bred champion Altissimo headlines the field for the $100,000 Babst/Palacios Memorial Stakes on Friday afternoon at Belterra Park. The race is one of five Best of Ohio stakes that will offer $500,000 in purses on the nine-race card, which begins at 12:35 p.m.
The Best of Ohio has evolved into a series of showcases throughout the year at all three of the state’s Thoroughbred tracks to promote the Ohio racing and breeding programs. Following Friday’s program, another five stakes will be contested on Aug. 13 at Thistledown, and the annual fall showcase program of five season-capping stakes will be held Oct. 29 at Mahoning Valley.
Millionaire Altissimo, the Ohio-bred horse of the year in 2018, 2019, and 2021, is seeking his 13th stakes victory in the Babst/Palacios Memorial. The field of 10 includes another multi-time Ohio horse of the year in millionaire Mo Dont No, who is at his best at longer distances on dirt He is cross-entered in the program’s $100,000 Best of Ohio Sydney Gendelman, for 3-year-olds and up routing on the turf.
The six-furlong sprint distance of the Babst/Palacios is Altissimo’s best game. The 9-year-old gelding, who will be ridden by Erik Barbaran and is trained by Richard Zielinski, won the season-ending Best of Ohio Sprint in 2018, 2019, and 2021 to lock up his horse of the year titles.
He followed last year’s Sprint victory with a win in the Cardinal Handicap in November at Mahoning Valley, and this is his first outing since. But Altissimo typically runs well off a layoff; in fact, last year he won the Babst/Palacios Memorial in his first start of 2021 after finishing third in the 2020 Cardinal.
Altissimo, who has been working at his Thistledown base in preparation for his latest return, also won the Babst/Palacios in 2018 and 2019.
Chief Buckeye could be an interesting new player in the Ohio sprint division, as he has won all three of his starts by open lengths for Tommy Drury Jr. He is making his stakes debut off a 5 1/4-length allowance win on May 6 in his first start of the year. John McKee, aboard for that effort, retains the mount.
The sister race to the Babst/Palacios Memorial is the $100,000 Best of Ohio Diana, where the consistent Amadevil and stepping-up Aunt Bee could find themselves in a fight on the front end, which would lending a helping hand in the pace scenario to stablemates Drillit and Tivis.
Amadevil has won six of seven starts, including a pair of stakes last year, with her only loss coming when second to Tivis in the First Lady last November. She is drawn in the outside post in the field of 11 under Chelsey Keiser.
Also likely to flash speed in the six-furlong sprint is Aunt Bee, drawn in post 2 under Perry Ouzts. The filly has won her four starts by a combined 27 1/2 lengths, but is stepping up past the allowance level for the first time. She is making her first start for Norm Cash off a $50,000 claim.
Drillit and Tivis, both trained by Robert Gorham, and winners of seven stakes between them, prefer to stalk or rally from off the pace. Also sitting off the speed should be four-time stakes winner Moonlit Mission, making her first start since August and first for new trainer Brian Waltz.
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The Sydney Gendelman will have a bevy of stakes winners with or without Mo Dont No. Wicked Warrior is a regular player in the state’s top ranks and was second in the last two editions of the Best of Ohio Endurance after finishing third in the 2019 Juvenile. The lineup also includes stakes winners Big Truck, Buckeye Magic, Danefield, Diamond Dust, and Send Me On.
Distance and surface are questions for the major players in the card’s two 3-year-old stakes. The $100,000 Best of Ohio Green Carpet on the turf features Tantrum, Rumble Strip Ron, and Hip Hip Hooray, the top three finishers from the Best of Ohio Juvenile last October at Mahoning Valley. However, between them they have just one start on turf, with Rumble Strip Ron well beaten at Kentucky Downs last September.
Tantrum won the Tall Stack Stakes on a sloppy track in his 3-year-old debut. Wet track form can sometimes be an indicator of turf ability.
Tantrum is conditioned by prominent Ohio trainer Tim Hamm and races for his partnership with WinStar Farm. The same connections will also send out Corner Office, a stakes winner sprinting on dirt last year who brings some turf pedigree into his grass debut. The gelding is by Bal a Bali and out of a Kitten’s Joy mare.
Sophomore fillies go 1 1/16 miles on dirt in the $100,000 Best of Ohio Norm Barron Queen City Oaks. Candlelight Hours figures as a strong favorite as the only entrant to have won at this distance, doing so in the John Galbreath Memorial on the October Best of Ohio program. That kicked off a three-race win streak, as she won a pair of allowance-level events to open this season.