Undefeated Buster's Boy towers above Tall Stack field

In three career starts, no Ohio-bred has managed to find an answer for Buster’s Boy, who will enter Saturday’s $75,000 Tall Stack Stakes at Belterra Park as an imposing favorite.

The Twinspired gelding headlines a field of seven in the Tall Stack, a 6 1/2-furlong race for Ohio-bred 3-year-olds.

Since debuting in December, Buster’s Boy has won each of his three starts, all going six furlongs against fellow statebreds at Mahoning Valley, by a margin of 4 1/4 lengths or greater. He won his debut on Dec. 19 by 5 1/4 lengths, then took an allowance on Feb. 26 by the same margin.

The gelding enters the Tall Stack off a win in the Howard B. Noonan Stakes on April 14 at Mahoning Valley, where he drew off by a front-running 4 1/4 lengths and earned a 69 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest number generated by any horse in the field.

William Cowans trains Buster’s Boy for owners Pine Ridge Farm and Jim Rumford. Walter De La Cruz has ridden the gelding for each of his starts, and he will have the mount once again on Saturday.

Buster’s Boy defeated three horses in the Howard B. Noonan that he’ll face on Saturday, including runner-up Charlee’s Magic. The Jump Start gelding was active in the Ohio-bred juvenile stakes ranks last year, finishing second in the Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes at Thistledown and third in the Juvenile Stakes at Belterra Park.

Charlee’s Magic races as a homebred for Ronald DeWolf. Trainer Mike Rone will give the leg up to jockey Irwin Rosendo, who has the assignment aboard the gelding for the first time.

Making his 2018 debut in the Tall Stack is Tiz a Rush. A gelded son of Tiz Wonderful, Tiz a Rush earned a 68 Beyer when second in the Juvenile Stakes last year. He also finished third in the Hoover Stakes at Belterra last July, and he broke his maiden later that year at Thistledown by 15 1/4 lengths.

Tiz a Rush finished the season with a third-place effort behind Charlee’s Magic in a Nov. 8 allowance at Mahoning Valley. He raced in blinkers for the first time that day, but he’ll go without them on Saturday.

Luis Rivera will have the mount once again for owner David Downard and trainer Jeffrey Radosevich.