Thistledown: Hamm, Needmore Flattery center stage on Best of Ohio Day

The Best of Ohio races at Thistledown on Saturday showcase the best Ohio-breds in training, and trainer Tim Hamm will have plenty of chances to show off his racing stock. Hamm will be represented in four of the five contests, including the $100,000 John W. Galbreath, where he will run probable Ohio horse of the year Needmore Flattery, a 2-year-old filly.

A daughter of Flatter, Needmore Flattery has won 5 of her 6 races, with her only loss coming in the Presque Isle Juvenile in her last start Sept. 26. Her five victories have all come in Ohio – three of them against males. Her victories have all been at six furlongs or less, but Hamm doesn’t think the 1 1/16-mile distance of the Galbreath will be a problem.

“She has always wanted to run long, and I was trying to find a spot to run her long in the race coming up to this one, but the timing just didn’t work out.” Hamm said. “If she wins Saturday, I think they would be hard-pressed to beat her for horse of the year, but you never know.”

It seems Hamm has a top Ohio 2-year-old filly every year. According to him, there is a logical reason.

“It is a numbers issue,” Hamm said. “We breed a lot of our own, and our partners breed horses as well. It seems like the colts get sold off at sales, so we end up with way more fillies than colts.”

Hamm’s Blazing Meadows Farm owns Needmore Flattery in partnership with Bruce Ryan.

“We raced her dam Kiosk and then Bruce bred her and she was at his farm in Waynesville. He takes care of the mares and foals until they are weaned and then we get them from there.”

Hamm, 47, won the training title at Presque Isle Downs for the first time this past year.

“We kept 25 at Presque Isle and 34 at Thistledown all summer,” he said. “Now we’ve moved them from Presque Isle to Keeneland and will then go to Gulfstream, back to Keeneland, and then back to Presque Isle.”

The purses for the five Best of Ohio races have been raised this year to $100,000 from the $50,000 to $75,000 level of the past. The extra money comes from the casinos that generate money for the Breeders fund. Hamm is on the board of directors of the Ohio Breeders and Owners and was voted champion owner of 2012.

“We decided in January to raise the purses to try to get more people to breed in Ohio,” he said.

The Juvenile, for 2-year-old males, also will be run at 1 1/16 miles. Conniption Fit, trained by Doug Cowans, will try to stretch his speed out after a 10-length maiden win Sept. 22 at Beulah Park.

Diavoletto will be defending his 2012 sprinter of the year title in the 11-horse Best of Ohio Sprint. Trained by Mike Rone, Diavoletto has won 4 of 5 career races at the six-furlong distance of the Sprint.

Caviar N Champagne looks to have the edge in the 1 1/8-mile Distaff. The Jeff Radosevich trainee has beaten most of the field going a route of ground and has won 3 of 6 locally.

The final event on the eight-race card is the Endurance, a 1 1/4-mile route for 3-year-olds and up. Only Boy won this race last year and was named handicap horse of the year as well as Ohio-accredited male of the year. The 5-year-old gelding will have to hold off Silver Tongued, a 3-year-old Flatter colt that comes from far back for trainer Jeff Greenhill.