Vivacious next stop on train for Ouzts, 70, Distinctive Flower, 9

Distinctive Flower is the elder stateswoman in the field for the $75,000 Vivacious Stakes for Ohio-bred fillies and mares Friday on the Belterra Park turf, one of four stakes on the program. The mare, who won this race in 2020, is making her 9-year-old debut in the 2024 edition, the oldest entrant in the field of 11.

In the irons will be an elder statesman of the track himself. Perry Wayne Ouzts, who turned 70 on July 7, rode Opie’s Girl to a win at Belterra on July 10, making him the oldest jockey to win a Thoroughbred race at a recognized track in North America. He eclipsed the mark previously set by the late Frank Amonte Sr., who rode Cuff the Quote to a win in September 2005 at the Northampton Fair in Massachusetts, one day before he turned 70.

This was the latest milestone for Ouzts, an Arkansas native who has been riding professionally for more than half a century. Last August at Belterra, he became the fifth-leading rider by wins in North American history. According to Equibase statistics, Ouzts enters this Wednesday with 7,449 career wins, for purse earnings of more than $52 million. He trails only Russell Baze (12,842), Laffit Pincay Jr. (9,530), Bill Shoemaker (8,833), and Pat Day (8,803).

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Ouzts was the subject of the 2016 Eclipse Award-winning documentary “Ironman,” detailing his blue-collar career and return from a number of injuries that could have been career-ending.

“I’m gonna ride this train till they throw me off,” Ouzts said in the documentary.

That train rolls to the Vivacious, where Ouzts rides Distinctive Flower for Prodigy Racing and trainer Chadwick Peach. The mare has earned $289,394 from nine wins in 45 career starts. Those include three prior starts in the Vivacious. After winning the race in 2020, she was second by a neck in 2021, and second by a head in 2022. Counting those, the mare has made more than half her career starts on the turf – and has won three of 11 outings on the Belterra turf, specifically.

Extensive turf experience is a plus for Distinctive Flower, as the favorites in this field actually have limited experience, despite a clear class advantage. Morning-line favorite Generous Lover won her maiden on the Fair Grounds turf, but most recently has won back-to-back races on the Churchill Downs dirt. She is taking on statebreds for the first time.

Here’s the Spider, a multiple stakes winner around two turns in Ohio, has never lost against statebreds but is making her turf debut.

Sophomores also get a stakes opportunity on the Belterra turf in the $75,000 Horizon Stakes, for Ohio-accredited runners. None of the 11 entrants have run on turf.

Villian, stakes-placed last year, is the morning-line favorite as he comes in off back-to-back sprint wins for Tim Hamm.Tough Cat, trained by Tom Drury Jr., is also among the top choices. While the surface is a question mark for all the runners – and both of these are by promising Ohio turf sires – the 1 1/16-mile distance may also be an issue. The two were fifth and 11th, respectively, in last fall’s Best of Ohio Juvenile in a two-turn attempt.

School’s Out was an allowance winner at a mile against older horses last time out for Anna Navarrete. The others in this field to win at a mile are maiden winners Dreamingabouttime and Kennedy’s Camelot.

Rounding out the quartet of stakes are the $75,000 Hoover and its sister race, the $75,000 Tah Dah, for statebred 2-year-olds. Hamm and WinStar Farm have a three-pronged entry for the Hoover, led by Fortissimo, who earned the field’s highest Beyer Speed Figure, a 61, while rolling by 6 3/4 lengths in his debut.

In the Tah Dah, the top number belongs to Silver Kiss, who earned a 58 Beyer for her eight-length debut score for David Wolochuk.

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