The Grade 3, $500,000 Ohio Derby on Saturday, June 22 at Thistledown drew a field of ten, including four horses proven to be competitive in top company.

Leading the Ohio Derby field in accomplishments is Catching Freedom, who won the Grade 2 Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby earlier this year before a fourth-place effort in the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve and a third place finish in the Preakness Stakes. Copper Tax won both the Private Terms Stakes and Federico Tesio Stakes in succession and figures to be a strong contender. Uncle Heavy won the Grade 3 Withers Stakes in February before a fifth place finish in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial Stakes presented by Resorts World Casino and then, most recently, a sixth place finish in the Preakness. Gould’s Gold is on an improving pattern as he finished third in the Bathhouse Row Stakes in April before missing by a nose in the Sir Barton Stakes last month. Then there’s highly regarded Batten Down, a full brother to multiple stakes winner Tacitus who won by an impressive eight and three-quarter length margin at the end of April when earning his first career win. Deposition won an allowance race in his most recent race, following an eighth-place effort in the Sir Barton. Frizzante, Mugatu and Who’s the King each have one career win and may be overmatched. Charleston enters the race as a maiden.

Win contenders:

Gould’s Gold is an improving 3-year-old who appears ready to make his mark in the division. Trained by Ken McPeek, conditioner of this year’s Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, and sharing some commonality of ownership, Gould’s Gold won in his 3-year-old debut at the end of March in a sprint and earned a 93 Equibase Speed Figure. Stretching out to the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Ohio Derby one month later, the colt rallied for third in the Bathhouse Row Stakes before a much better effort on May 18 in the Sir Barton Stakes. In that race, Gould’s Gold raced in second until the field straightened away for the stretch, took the lead and opened up by a length, then was beaten in a head-bobbing finish by a nose. That effort earned a career-best 103 figure which is higher than any other horse’s figure in the field except for the 107 figure Catching Freedom earned when fourth in the Kentucky Derby. It is higher than the 98 figure Catching Freedom earned when third in the Preakness. Considering Gould’s Gold gets the two post in the gate and there are few, if any, other horses in the field who appears to like running on or near the front, Kentucky Derby winning jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. should have this colt on an easy lead from the start. As Gould’s Gold improved his figure 10 points from effort in April to the one he put forth last month, with logical improvement he has a very strong probability to succeed in this year’s Ohio Derby.

Catching Freedom. (Lou Hodges, Jr. /Hodges Photography)

Catching Freedom finds a field absent of the horses which finished in front of him in both the Derby and Preakness, namely Seize the Grey, Mystik Dan, Sierra Leone and Forever Young. On that count alone this very talented colt has a big shot to win the Ohio Derby. After a third-place finish in February behind Sierra Leone in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes, Catching Freedom then improved to a career-best 98 Figure when winning the Louisiana Derby, before a 107 figure when rallying from 15^th to fourth in the Kentucky Derby. However, Catching Freedom seemed to regress in the Preakness, only managing third with a 97 figure. Still, he was only a head behind runner-up Mystik Dan. Trained by Brad Cox, who won the 2022 Ohio Derby with Tawny Port and who saddled the 2023 Ohio Derby runner-up (Bishop’s Bay), Catching Freedom gets the services of jockey Luis Saez. The only concern I have is Catching Freedom has a late running style that usually finds him in the back half of the field for the first three-quarters of a race and if the pace is not to his liking he may end up with just a minor award - the same as in the Derby and Preakness.

Copper Tax has proven to be a very talented runner, and one who fits at this level. Having won seven of 10 career races, his two most recent efforts were his best yet. Two races back in March, Copper Tax won the Private Terms Stakes gamely by a neck on the wire, earning a 102 figure. Five weeks later at the end of April, Copper Tax rallied from sixth of 10 to win the Federico Tesio Stakes with a 100 figure. The Tesio was run at the distance of the Ohio Derby and since the colt is now two months more mature than last seen, an even stronger effort could be forthcoming and that wold be good enough to be competitive down to the wire with the top two contenders.

The rest of the field, with their best representative Equibase Speed Figures, is Batten Down (88), Charleston (82), Deposition (90), Frizzante (83), Mugatu (96), Uncle Heavy (95) and Who’s the King (83)

Win Contenders in preference order:

Gould’s Gold

Catching Freedom

Copper Tax