Champion 2-year-old Storm the Court will try to reinvigorate his Kentucky Derby prospects when he lines up for Saturday’s $500,000 Ohio Derby (G3) presented by TwinSpires at Thistledown. Winless from three starts since upsetting the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), the Peter Eurton-trained colt has been installed as the 3-1 morning line favorite in the overflow field of 15.
Only 14 will be allowed to start in the 1 1/8-mile race, which has been added as qualifier in the Road to the Kentucky Derby series, and points will be awarded on a 20-8-4-2 scale to the top four finishers. Storm the Court enters ranked 15th on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 32 points.
A Kentucky-bred son of Court Vision, Court the Vision opened 2020 with a fourth in the San Vicente (G2) and a third in the San Felipe (G2) before shipping from his California base to record a sixth in the May 2 Arkansas Derby (G1). Eurton captured the 2018 Ohio Derby with Core Beliefs, and regular rider Flavien Prat will be in to ride the front-running Storm the Court.
Lebda, who invades from Maryland after winning the Private Terms S. and Miracle Wood S. earlier this year, comes next on the morning line at 7-2. Claudio Gonzalez trains the Raison d’Etat colt, who likes to race up close from the start, and Alex Cintron will accompany.
Multiple stakes victor Rowdy Yates, last seen finishing fourth in the Feb. 29 Saudi Derby Cup overseas, is the 9-2 third choice. Tyler Baze will be up for Steve Asmussen, who also has last-out Lone Star allowance winner Code Runner entered. Ricardo Feliciano picks up the mount on the 6-1 Code Runner.
Stakes winner South Bend will switch back to the main track for Stanley Hough after making his last five starts on turf, and Rafael Bejarano has the assignment on the 8-1 fifth choice. Other runners include the Bill Mott-trained Sprawl, who adds Paco Lopez following a 2 ¼-length score over entry-level allowance foes at Churchill Downs; stakes-placed Informative; juvenile stakes scorer Soros; and Dean Martini, second in a recent Churchill allowance.
