Tawny Port Favored In A Talented Ohio Derby Field 

Stats, works, videos and more!

A field of eight super talented 3-year-old colts will compete Saturday, June 25, in the 2022 G3 Ohio Derby held at JackThistledown for a purse of $500,000. The marquee event is the closer on an 11-race card. With a first post of 12 PM ET, the Ohio Derby will post at 5:35 PM ET.

With G3 Stonestreet Lexington winner Tawny Port as the favorite at 3-1 morning line odds the field includes Gander winner Barese, Sir Barton winner Ethereal Road, G1 Florida Derby winner White Abarrio and G2 Tampa Bay Derby winner Classic Causeway. The race for 3-year-olds will be contested at 1 1/8 miles on dirt.

Breaking from post 1 is Barese for Mike Maker under Kendrick Carmouche with a 9/2 MLO.

Owned by Paradise Farm Corp and David Staudacher, Barese was bred by Sequel Thoroughbreds and Lakland Farm. Mike Maker acquired the colt for his owners at the Fasig-Tipton Florida Select Two-Year-Olds In Training Sale for $150,000.

The son of Laoban out of Successful Appeal mare Right Prevails has three wins and a third place out of five starts. Breaking his maiden on first asking at Belmont on May 21, 2021, Barese followed up with two stakes wins at Aqueduct earning Black Type: The 6 1/2 furlong Rego Park and the one mile Gander, the latter his 2022 debut. 

Barese ran fifth in the Wood Memorial and third in the New York Stallion Stakes on April 23 under Dylan Davis.

Barese has been working five furlongs at Belmont and needs to pick it up a little.

Launching from chute #2 will be Brigadier General for Dallas Stewart piloted by Reylu Gutierrez for West Point Thoroughbreds with a 12-1 MLO.

Sired by Street Sense out of Giant’s Causeway mare Mia and Molly, Brigadier General was bred in Kentucky by Rose Hill Farm and TNIP LLC and purchased by West Point at the Fasig-Tipton Select Yearling Sale for $150,000. 

With one win, two seconds and a third out of eight starts, Brigadier General will be making a huge leap in class having not broken his maiden until his seventh start at Keeneland on April 14, 2022. 

In his last outing on May 12 at Churchill Downs the bay colt came in fourth in an Allowance. 

Brigadier General has had some respectable works to date at Churchill. 

Droppin G’s will start in post 3 for trainer Jerry Antonuik with Malcolm Franklin in the irons at MLO of 8-1.

Campaigned by Lisa Tiemeyer Stables, Droppin G’s was bred in Kentucky by Joe B. Mulholland, Jr. and John P. and Karen Mulholland and sold as a yearling for $15,000 in October 2020 and at OBS as a 2-year-old in training for $150,000.

Making his first start Dec. 10, 2021, and breaking his maiden in his third start at Turfway Park Feb. 11, 2022, Droppin G’s has a record of 10 starts with two wins, the second one at Turfway April 2 in an AOC, and one third in an AOC at Churchill May 21. 

The Klimt colt out of Exchange Rate mare Zooey has stakes experience finishing fourth in both the Rushaway at Turway and the Matt Winn G3 at Churchill June 12.

There are no recorded workouts on Equibase for Droppin G’s.

Firing from post 4 is Sir Barton champion Ethereal Road for legendary trainer D. Wayne Lukas with Rafael Bejarano getting the leg up from the coach at MLO of 4-1.

Bred in Kentucky by Paul Pompa, Jr., Ethereal Road was sired by Quality Road out of the War Front mare Sustained. The tenacious colt is owned by Aaron Sones who purchased him at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $90,000.

Ethereal Road’s talents are not reflected in his record of eight starts with two wins with a second and third place. 

Making his first start at Churchill Downs on Oct. 31, 2021, the bay colt did not break his maiden until three starts later at Oaklawn on Jan. 29, 2022. A month later he would place second in the G2 Rebel at Oaklawn by half a length to Un Ojo. Unfortunately, Ethereal Road floundered, perhaps a bit out-classed, in his next start, the G1 Toyota Blue Grass at Keeneland finishing seventh.

Bumped at the start, he finished fourth in the G3 Stonestreet Lexington to winner Tawny Port, his current competition on Saturday. 

Ethereal Road more than made up for the Blue Grass by rallying from seventh and blowing away the field winning the Sir Barton by 4 ¾ lengths on the Preakness undercard at Pimlico Race Course. He earned Black Type for his victory.

Ethereal Road’s works have been steady.

In gate 5 will be White Abarrio for Saffie Joseph, Jr., with Tyler Gaffalione aboard at 7/2 MLO.

White Abarrio was bred by Spendthrift Farm out of their Into Mischief mare Catching Diamonds. The grey colt, sired by Race Day, gets his color from his grandsire, Tapit.

Campainged by C2 Racing Stable and La Milagrosa Racing, White Abarrio was sold at the 2020 OBS Winter Mix sale for $7,500 and then purchased by the current owners at the OBS March 2021 for $40,000 as a two-year-old in training.  

With a very respectable record, White Abarrio has hit the board in five of his six starts with four wins and one third. The only time he didn’t hit the board was in his last start, the Kentucky Derby, where he finished a disappointing and uncharacteristic 16th. 

Breaking his maiden on first asking Sept. 24, 2021, at Gulfstream Park, White Abarrio followed up with a win in an AOC at Gulfstream in October and a third in the G3 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill in November. 

The feisty colt then took home two coveted prizes at Gulfstream—the G3 Holy Bull by two and a half lengths and the G1 Florida Derby which he won by a head.

White Abarrio had one blazing work at Gulfstream on June 6.

Drawing post 6 is Pineapple Man for Mike Maker under T.D. Houghton at 10-1 MLO.

The lone New York-bred in the field, the bay colt was bred by Monhill Farm sired by Gormley out of Borrego mare New Doo. 

Pineapple Man is owned by Justice Racing Stable and Ryan Steigmeier and was purchased at the OBS 2021 as a two-year-old in training for $34,000. 

With only one win under his belt, breaking his maiden on third outing, Pineapple Man has actually hit the board four out of his five starts. 

Never having raced in stakes company much less graded stakes company, Pineapple Man has also never raced outside of New York. (10-1 odds are quite generous)

Pineapple Man had his latest work on Monday at Belmont.

On the outside starting from post 7 as the favorite is Tawny Port for Eclipse Award winner Brad Cox under Belmont Stakes winner Irad Ortiz, Jr., at 3-1 MLO.

A Kentucky WinStar bred, Tawny Port, named for a wine, was sired by Pioneerof the Nile out of Macho Uno mare Livi Makenzie. 

The dark brown colt is owned by Peachtree Stable purchased at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale for an impressive price of $430,000. 

Breaking his maiden on his debut at Turfway on Dec. 4, 2021, Tawny Port followed up with a win in an AOC Jan. 7, 2022, and then fizzled in the G2 Risen Star at the Fair Grounds finishing fifth.

Achieving redemption, under Manny Franco Tawny Port placed second in the G3 Jeff Ruby Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths to Tiz the Bomb before giving his best performance at Keeneland in the G3 Stonestreet Lexington under Florent Geroux besting Major General ridden by Ortiz, Jr., his pilot on Saturday.

Tawny Port’s works have been fair.

Breaking from the outside in no. 8 is Classic Causeway for Kenny McPeek under Brian Hernandez, Jr., with 6-1 MLO.

A regal homebred for Kentucky West Racing and Clarke M. Cooper Family Living Trust the chestnut colt is the son of the great Giant’s Causeway out of a Thunder Gulch mare Private World.

Winning his debut at Saratoga Sept. 4, 2021, Classic Causeway jumped up in class to all graded stakes and rose to the challenge.

Finishing third in the G1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland Oct. 9 he then placed second in the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Nov. 27 to close out his juvenile year. 

Classic Causeway blew into 2022 and Tampa Bay Downs winning the G3 Sam F. Davis Feb. 12 and Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby March 12, which he wired. Both races garnered 104 Equibase Speed Figures. 

His next start April 2 at Gulfstream would be shambolic. After breaking first and setting the pace until the 1/2 mile mark he faded to fifth under Irad Ortiz, Jr., and finished dead last by 21 1/4 lengths in the G1 Florida Derby with notes that stated: set the pace along the rail, gave way readily nearing the far turn and was not persevered with; retreated.

After his Kentucky Derby prep race fell flat his performance in the Derby also deflated. Classic Causeway broke from gate 17, got into twelfth and got totally stuck there eventually finishing eleventh.

After the Kentucky Derby Classic Causeway was transferred from the barn of Brian Lynch to McPeek. 

Classic Causeway’s latest work was pretty peppy.

By Maribeth Kalinich
Main Photo: Tawny Port winning the Stonestreet Lexington at Keeneland. (Keeneland/Coady Photography)