Tivis the lone stakes winner in Cheryl White Memorial

The late Cheryl White, who died in 2019, broke barriers as the first Black female jockey, with her first mount, and, later, her first winner both coming in Ohio in 1971. At the time of her death, White, 65, lived in Youngstown in Mahoning County, and being a licensed steward, seh sometimes filled in at Mahoning Valley in nearby Austintown, one of the state’s three Thoroughbred tracks.

Forty years after White broke through, Mahoning Valley gets a chance to honor her on Saturday with the $75,000 Cheryl White Memorial, an open sprint for 3-year-old fillies. Most of the entrants in the field of 10 are trying to break through to the next level. Nine fillies looking for their first stakes score line up against unbeaten Tivis, the only Ohio-bred and the only stakes winner in the field.

Tivis, a Tale of Ekati filly trained by Robert Gorham for Hillburn Racing Stable, debuted on March 9 with a 5 1/4-length maiden score at Mahoning Valley. In her next outing, she won the Southern Park Stakes against Ohio-breds by four lengths, improving her Beyer Speed Figure to 54.

Christian Pilares, aboard for both her starts, retains the call Saturday.

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Although none of the others in this field boast a stakes win, they have bested the local filly’s speed figures, and should thus provide her competition. The top numbers in the field belong to Prodigy Doll, although she may be vulnerable making her first start since November and her first for a new trainer in Ben Colebrook. Last year, when trained by Bernard Houghton, Prodigy Doll posted a 4 3/4-length maiden score that earned a 69 Beyer, then followed up with a nine-length romp in an allowance race at Laurel that earned a 76. She was fourth in the Smart Angle Stakes to end her season.

Both of Prodigy Doll’s wins came on the lead, and she is well drawn in post 2 under Sonny Leon.

Make a Scene comes off an allowance win at Tampa with a 65 Beyer for Tim Hamm, a standout local trainer who has begun making waves on the national scene. Tiz Independence earned a 62 in an allowance win at Mahoning Valley. Threatlevelmidnite is coming off a win at Turfway with a 66, which would also factor in this group if she runs. She is cross-entered on Friday at Keeneland in the Limestone Turf Sprint.

◗ The Cheryl White Memorial is followed on the card by the $75,000 Howard B. Noonan for 3-year-old Ohio-bred sprinters, in which the filly Esplanande looms large for Hamm. A multiple stakes winner in Ohio last season, she acquitted herself well when second in the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga to eventual Eclipse Award champion Vequist. She most recently flattered Tivis when second to that filly in the Southern Park in her first start off the layoff.

The field also includes Morestride, second in the Juvenile on the Best of Ohio showcase program last fall at Mahoning Valley, and stakes winner Big Truck.