Ohio Derby draws Preakness and Derby veterans in key test

The Ohio Derby carried more than a regional stakes label at Thistledown. With five of the 10 starters coming directly off the Triple Crown trail, the 1 1/8-mile Grade 3 was a mid-summer sorting machine for 3-year-olds trying to prove they still belonged in the national conversation and still had a lane toward the Haskell, Jim Dandy and Travers.

Desert Gate arrived as the horse they all had to run down. The Bob Baffert colt was the 5-2 morning-line favorite, and pre-race analysis pointed to him as the only definite frontrunner, with Flavien Prat staying aboard after wins in the Hot Springs Stakes at Oaklawn and the Texas Derby at Lone Star. If Desert Gate was allowed to dictate terms, the race could turn into a fairly simple class-and-speed exercise. If not, the deeper group of Derby and Preakness veterans suddenly had a chance to make his life a lot harder.

That group was the story. Chip Honcho, third in the Preakness, came in at 3-1 and was still chasing a stakes win this year after a December victory in the Gun Runner Stakes and runner-up finishes in the Risen Star and Lecomte. Ocelli, who earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure in the Kentucky Derby, was one of the more battle-tested runners in the field after getting the Derby and Preakness experience that can matter when the pace gets serious late. Robusta, who was 14th in the Kentucky Derby, and Bull by the Horns gave the race even more Triple Crown texture, while Albus returned for his first start since the Kentucky Derby.

The rest of the field kept the race from becoming a simple Derby alumni reunion. Trendsetter entered as a graded winner at the Peter Pan and Lexington level and offered a different kind of proof point, a horse trying to jump from strong spring form into the division’s next tier. Chad Allan was 6-1, Trendsetter 5-1, Ocelli 9-2, Desert Gate 5-2, Albus 10-1, Bull By The Horns 12-1, Robusta 20-1, and Zihnal and Jupiter were 30-1 shots.

The setup mattered because history said this race could move a horse forward fast. Five of the last 10 Ohio Derbies were won by runners exiting the Triple Crown series, and the 92nd running, a $500,000 Grade 3 at Thistledown with a 6:20 p.m. post as Race 12, looked built to continue that pattern. Supplementary nominations were due June 13, and the winner took 60% of the purse, but the real payoff was bigger than the check. For the right horse, this was the kind of race that could turn a spring survivor into a summer player.