A week before some of the best runners in the world gather at the Breeders’ Cup, collections of some of the best horses in various statebred programs will gather in showcase programs around the country. Nine stakes for New York-breds make up a massive card on Saturday at Aqueduct, while Indiana-breds get a star turn with six stakes in their home state. And then there’s the Best of Ohio fall showcase card. Saturday at Mahoning Valley, five $100,000 stakes will pit some of the best in various divisions in the Buckeye State against each other. There are 43 entrants across the five races. Excluding the 2-year-olds, who have little stakes experience to date, the 23 older horses entered combined to win 42 stakes races. And like the Breeders’ Cup, which will have a number of returning winners, eight Ohio-breds who have previously won races on this fall showcase program are returning for this year’s edition, which often goes a long way toward determining state championship honors. A highlight of the day will be a rematch of two such runners, Who Dey and Fair and Square, who put on a thriller last year in the Best of Ohio Endurance. Who Dey, a Maccabee Farm homebred trained by Tommy Drury, won the 2023 Best of Ohio Juvenile. He returned to his home state last fall having competed admirably against open stakes company through the year, including a Grade 3 placing at Churchill Downs. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. In the Endurance, at 1 1/4 miles, he met 2023 Ohio-bred horse of the year Fair and Square, who had won both the 2022 and 2023 editions of the race. Who Dey was bumped at the start, made a sustained move down the backstretch, and was at the throatlatch of Fair and Square at the quarter pole. The two battled down the lane, with the younger Who Dey getting his neck in front at the wire. Who Dey is lightly raced this year, winning an allowance race in Ohio in May and most recently finishing fourth on Sept. 27 at Churchill in the Grade 3 Ack Ack, won by the Breeders’ Cup-bound Tumbarumba. Meanwhile, Fair and Square comes to this edition of the Endurance off a repeat victory in the Best of Ohio Governor’s Buckeye Cup at Thistledown in August. That was the sixth career stakes win for the gelding, trained by Tim Hamm, who also co-bred and co-owns the star. Meeting Who Dey and Fair and Square this year are 2022 Endurance winner I Wanna Win and 2021 Best of Ohio Juvenile winner Tantrum. Best of Ohio Distaff The Best of Ohio Distaff, which is absent defending winner and reigning state horse of the year Generous Lover, nevertheless matches a pair of veteran state champions in Candlelight Hours and Here’s the Spider. ON SALE NOW: DRF Breeders' Cup Packages! Get everything you need to win and save big. Elkhorn Oaks homebred Candlelight Hours has won seven stakes and is approaching $750,000 in earnings for trainer James Jackson. Her stakes wins include the 2021 Best of Ohio John W. Galbreath – essentially the Juvenile Fillies – and the 2023 Best of Ohio Distaff. Both wins locked up statebred divisional championships. Now 6, Candlelight Hours is still in solid form. Her last two efforts were a win in the Best of Ohio Pay the Man and a third in the Michael G. Mackey Memorial Angenora Stakes last month. Here’s the Spider won the 2023 Galbreath, among her three career stakes wins, to earn a juvenile title. She was a distant second in the 2024 Distaff and comes to this year’s edition for owner Jack Cannon and trainer Yoni Orantes. ◗ The Best of Ohio Sprint is led by defending winner Empire’s Fire, who has won 3 of 5 starts this year for owner Douglas Diemer and trainer Jeff Radosevich. Fellow Sprint entrant Superwolf won the 2024 Juvenile. ◗ The Best of Ohio Juvenile and the John Galbreath round out the card. In their nascent careers, Juvenile entrants Crown the Buckeye, Jac’s Doe Maker, and No More Cents are already stakes winners. No More Cents comes back from a foray into open company, leading the Grade 3 Iroquois early before fading in the one-mile race at Churchill Downs. None of the fillies entered in the Galbreath have previously won a stakes race. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.