Thistledown: Devil Time seeks No. 3

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Devil Time looks to complete a stakes-winning hat-trick, matching strides over 1 1/4 miles with eight other Ohio-breds in the 27th running of the $75,000 Governor's Buckeye Cup.

The race will be run at Thistledown for the first time. It had been run at River Downs, and prior to the Best of Ohio Day program, the Ohio-bred champion was usually crowned by winning this race.

Devil Time, a gelded son of Devil His Due, has been dominant in his last two outings - winning the nine-furlong George Lewis Memorial here by eight lengths and the 1 1/16-mile Gendelman Handicap at River Downs by 4 1/2 lengths. His other stakes victory this year came in Beulah Park's six-furlong Edward Babst Memorial, which he won by 7 1/2 lengths. In his last win, he defeated six of the horses he faces on Monday.

Devil Time comes into the race at the top of his game. William Troilo will again ride for trainer David Carroll.

The main opposition to Devil's Time will likely be Brent's Victory and Truth Matters, who finished second and third behind him in the George Lewis Memorial in their last starts. Brents Victory had a mild late rally that day and outfinished Truth Matters, who set the pace into the stretch, by a nose.