Epic Ride’s past performances are peppered with some of the biggest names of the 3-year-old division, routing and sprinting. A stakes winner earlier this season at Turfway Park, the colt was third in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes to eventual Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone, with Seize the Grey seventh. Epic Ride went on to finish 14th in the Kentucky Derby; two weeks later, Seize the Grey won the Preakness.
Given time off after the Derby, Epic Ride was most recently a creditable third in the Perryville Stakes at Keeneland. Grade 1 winner Book’em Danno, a leading sophomore sprinter, was second.
But the strength of that résumé doesn’t make Epic Ride a lock against a solid field in the $300,000 Steel Valley Sprint on Monday at Mahoning Valley Race Course. The Steel Valley Sprint tops seven stakes on the card worth a combined $900,000.
Grade 2 winner World Record “is a really talented colt, he’s going to be tough to beat,” said Epic Ride’s trainer, John Ennis, and, “I wouldn’t sleep on” five-time stakes winner Valentine Candy, either.
“We’ll know what kind of horse we have after Monday,” Ennis added.
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Epic Ride, in his first start in more than five months, led briefly in the stretch of the seven-furlong Perryville before he “just got tired,” according to Ennis, and finished in a dead heat for third with the well-regarded Knightsbridge. He was beaten just a length by 28-1 upset winner Brunacini, with Grade 1 winner Book’em Danno second. The latter was entered in the Steel Valley, but will scratch, leaving a field of 10 in the six-furlong race.
“We’re waiting for the Cigar Mile,” trainer Derek Ryan said.
Epic Ride earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 97 in the Perryville, and will be tighter for his second start off the bench.
“I think it was a great effort, to run so good in such a tough race,” Ennis said.
Epic Ride’s lone stakes win came in the Leonatus at a mile on Turfway Park’s Tapeta, and he has not gone as short as six furlongs since his maiden win in January. But Ennis is not concerned about cutting back in distance, and says one-turn races will be the colt’s game.
“He’s a very fast horse,” he said. “I could go five-eighths, probably, with him.”
Edgar Morales has the mount.
Book’em Danno’s scratch will leave World Record, trained by Rodolphe Brisset, as the lone graded stakes winner in the field. He won the Grade 2 Amsterdam in July at Saratoga, then set another blistering pace before fading to sixth in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial at that track. He bounced back with a win in an allowance at Keeneland.
Valentine Candy comes in off a confidence-boosting allowance win at Churchill. Four of his five stakes victories have come at Oaklawn Park, his favorite track, although his career- and field-high 102 Beyer Figure came at Charles Town.
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Glengarry, who has won four of five starts, is making his first start since April, when he won the Lafayette at Keeneland. That was his first outing in nearly four months, indicating he may handle this layoff.
Cheryl White Memorial
The $200,000 Cheryl White Memorial, for 3-year-old fillies going six furlongs, serves as a sister race to the Steel Valley Sprint.
Youalmosthadme, seeking her fifth stakes win, is making her first start for Mike Maker after being transferred from Brad Cox’s barn. Flavien Prat, who has the mount on World Record in the Steel Valley, will be in the irons.
Youalmosthadme was beaten a length by multiple stakes winner Halina’s Forte – who she faces again here – when fourth in a quality allowance race at Churchill last out. It is her only finish worse than third. The break from post 2 will be key for the speedy filly, as she has a penchant for awkward starts.
Halina’s Forte is one of five other stakes winners in this field of 10, along with Carmelina, consecutive graded-placed Fibber, Irish Maxima, and Tricky Temper.
◗ Disco Ebo is the only stakes winner among 10 fillies and mares sprinting in the $100,000 Hollywood Gaming Mahoning Distaff. The morning-line favorite Mighty Madison is making her stakes debut. She has won two allowance-level races in her last four starts, and missed the other two times by just a head and a neck.
◗ The $75,000 Ruff/Kirchberg Memorial for Ohio-accredited older horses going two turns features the consistent Villian, 6-4-1-1 this year for the prominent partnership of leading Ohio trainer and breeder Tim Hamm and WinStar Farm. The gelding won this year’s Catlaunch; was second by a neck in the Buckeye Native to First Song, who he faces again here; and was third to another entrant, Kelleher, in the Horizon.
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◗ The $75,000 Cardinal for older Ohio-bred sprinters rematches Empire’s Fire and Dougie D Oro, one-two in the Best of Ohio Sprint last month at Mahoning Valley.
◗ My Girl Kew makes her first start since winning the Southern Park in April in the $75,000 First Lady, for Ohio-bred 3-year-old filly sprinters. Practicallyelusive is seeking her sixth straight victory here.
◗ Rounding out the action is the $75,000 Glacial Princess for Ohio-accredited 2-yar-old fillies. Parlay and Perfect Date were a distant second and third, respectively, in last month’s Best of Ohio John W. Galbreath.
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