Inaugurated 1876 Surface Dirt | Website www.thistledown.com Purse 500,000 USD (2016) | |
Location Thistledown RacecourseNorth Randall, Ohio Distance 1 ⁄8 miles (9 furlongs) | ||
The Ohio Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in mid-to-late June at Thistledown in North Randall, Ohio.
The Ungraded Stakes race for three-year-olds is run on dirt over a distance of 1 1⁄8 miles.
The race currently offers a purse of $500,000.
Inaugurated in 1876, the race was canceled after the 1883 running but was revived in 1924 with future Hall of Fame inductee and that year's Kentucky Derby winner Black Gold claiming victory. For a time, the Ohio Derby was held at the now defunct Bainbridge Park Race Track in Bainbridge Township, Ohio, built in 1927 by John King and Homer Kline.
Pete D. Anderson, trainer of 2007 winner Delightful Kiss, won this race in 1964 as the jockey for National.
The Ohio Derby was not scheduled to be run in 2009 in order to maintain reasonable purses for area horsemen. However, an announcement was made in August that the Grade II race would run on October 3, 2009 on the Best of Ohio card. This race was downgraded from a graded stakes to a listed stakes in 2014.
As of 2016, this race is run at 1 and 1/8th miles.