Streaking Drills Wild Brat faces familiar foes in Bricker Memorial
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Mahoning Valley, which canceled Monday’s program due to winter weather, is expected to be back in action in the middle of the week, including a Thursday card featuring two Ohio-accredited stakes.
Following a frigid weekend in much of Kentucky and Ohio, the high temperature forecast for Monday in Youngstown, Ohio, was 20 degrees. Mahoning was scheduled to race on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The high for Thursday is forecasted at 48 degrees, with rain in the area.
The $75,000 Bobbie Bricker Memorial, for Ohio-accredited fillies and mares going a mile and 70 yards, is the co-feature on Thursday afternoon’s 10-race program. The race has drawn a field of 10, with Drills Wild Brat, whose stock is rising as she defeated many of her Thursday rivals in her most recent outing.
Drills Wild Brat has won seven of 10 career starts, but has hit her very best stride as of late, coming to the Bricker Memorial off three consecutive wins for trainer Jeff Radosevich. She followed allowance scores at Thistledown and Mahoning Valley with a victory in the Leona’s Reward Stakes, at this track and Thursday’s distance, in her stakes debut on Nov. 13.
She stalked the pace in second before edging clear and holding sway for a three-quarter-length score over late-charging Countess Colette, who she faces again here. The Leona’s Reward was contested on a muddy track, conditions that could be in play for the Bricker Memorial.
Also emerging from the Leona’s Reward are Parlay (third), Ima Mom (fourth), Hot Princess (fifth), Kichi Kitsu (sixth), Praise N Glory (seventh), Mobil Chic (eighth), and Miz Keeta (ninth). Praise N Glory had previously sprung a $56.40 upset in the Best of Ohio Distaff at Mahoning Valley.
The consistent Parlay can be counted on to deliver another strong performance. She is a four-time stakes winner, having won the Emerald Necklace and Glacial Princess – the latter at Mahoning Valley – last year, and the Cincinnatian and Tomboy this year.
Mobil Chic was third in last year’s Bricker Memorial after winning the race in 2022 and 2023.
Jeffrey Radosevich Memorial
Earlier on the card, the $75,000 Jeffrey Radosevich Memorial for Ohio-accredited 2-year-olds rematches a handful of previous stakes performers in a full field.
Jac’s Doe Maker won the Loyalty Stakes in September at Belterra Park, but then finished 11th when stretching out for the Best of Ohio Juvenile. The gelding cuts back to six furlongs, a distance he may prefer. He won his first two starts around one turn before the Juvenile.
The filly Dunn’s River and the gelding Ultimate Destinatn were second and third, respectively, in the Loyalty. The hard-knocking Dunn’s River, who already has made eight starts and has plenty of stakes experience under her belt, went on to win the Glacial Princess Stakes in November at Mahoning Valley going this same six-furlong distance. In addition to a rematch with her male foes, she again faces the filly Miss Lora Ann, who was second in the Glacial Princess.
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