Tivis Upsets Southern Park Stakes at Mahoning Valley!

Tivis, a 3 yr old filly by Tale of Ekati out of the Pulpit mare Preseli’s Pulpit upset the 2-5 favorite and 2020 Ohio 2 yr old Champion filly Esplanande in winning Saturday’s running of the black type Southern Park Stakes by four widening lengths.

Tivis was bred in Ohio by her owners, Hillburn Racing (Josh Mikesell, Brad Barker, and Ike and Kyle Cooper), trained by Bob Gorham, and confidently ridden to victory by jockey Christian Pilares. Tim Hamm’s Esplanande finished second and Rock Star Lady trained by Kris Nemann rallied for third. Tivis paid $13.60 to win.

Gorham said the filly was a bit of a late developer so they gave her some time and put her into serious training in the fall. She stumbled a bit out of the gate in her first start but roared home to win by 5. “Well, you know how it can be sometimes with first time starters. They need to get the feel of it. She ran good so we decided to go in this spot. We’re sort of glad we did…” Gorham added with a smile in his voice.

Hillburn Racing and Tivis in particular are a true “family affair”. Ike and Kyle are Josh’s uncles and Tivis is actually an old family name of theirs. It can be risky when you name a horse after someone close to you but this time, Tivis more than held up her end of the bargain and did the family proud!

Tale of Ekati stands at Darby Dan Farms in Kentucky. Darby Dan is one of the biggest supporters of the OTBO Annual Stallion Auction every year and last year they did provide a season to Tale of Ekati in our sale. This year’s online auction will be held Dec. 6-9, 2021 so plan accordingly to acquire another potential Ohio Stake winner at a very fair price!

The Southern Park Stakes kicks of the 2021 Ohio Stake schedule which features 43 races including a Best of Ohio Day at each of our tracks. Check out the schedule on this website and in our annual Stakes Brochure which is on the way to all OTBO members this week.

Congratulations to all the connections of Tivis!

Here is a link to today’s race courtesy of Mahoning Valley Racecourse: (race#6)

https://www.hollywoodmahoningvalley.com/racing/racing-video-and-replay

Ohio’s Own DeShawn Parker wins Prestigious George Woolf Award

Here is a link below to the story as reported on the Paulick Report.

Congratulations to DeShawn from everyone at the OTBO and all horsepeople in Ohio on this tremendous award. DeShawn has always been the epitome of class and professionalism since he first stepped on the racetrack.

Personally, I never met a jockey who had a better clock in his head and a sense for what part of the track was the best place to be on every different day. DeShawn always gave your horse a better chance of winning. What else could you ask of your jockey! He is definitely one of the very best of all time. Mike Annechino

DeShawn Parker Honored With 2021 George Woolf Memorial Award

Ohio Stallions First Foals of 2021

Colt by Fort Larned (born Feb 21, 2021)

New Ohio Stallions Represented by First Ohio Foals in 2021

As Ohio breeders stood in line to breed their mares to the many new stallions that entered the state in 2020, they are now being rewarded some 11 months later as their foals began hitting the ground in 2021.

Ohio farms acquired and relocated stallions from other states in 2020, adding them to a roster of bloodlines that continues to improve year after year.  Big name stallions such as Fort Larned, Itsmyluckyday and Danza (formerly standing in Kentucky) and Drill (formerly standing in Florida) have recently been represented by their first Ohio-Accredited foals in 2021.

Fort Larned’s first accredited-Ohio foal was a colt out of No Truer, who is a full-sister to True Cinder, a multiple stakes-winner in Ohio, winning stakes at 2, 3, 4 & 5 years-old.  The colt was bred by Michael & Penny Rone and was born at Duncan Farms, where Fort Larned stands in Warsaw, Ohio.

Drill’s first accredited-Ohio foal was a filly out of Wild n Bratty, who is a daughter of Bucky’s Brat, a 6-time stakes winner in Ohio.  The filly was bred by South River Ranch Inc., a breeder who resides in Indiana and frequently participates in the Ohio program.  Drill stands at Raimonde Farms in Wooster, Ohio.

Itsmyluckyday sired his first accredited-Ohio foals with a pair of colts born on the same day of different breeders. The first colt born (bred by Dr. Robert Maro) was out of Palsy Walsy, a mare out of multiple graded stakes-winner Valbenny, who was trained by the great Bobby Frankel.  The other colt (bred by Alvin Flick) was out of Crimson Kate, a daughter of the stakes winning and multiple stakes-placed mare, Red Lifesaver.  Itsmyluckyday stands at Maro Veterinary Services in Lowellville, Ohio.

Danza was represented by his first accredited-Ohio foal when a colt out of Swinkey (by Dialed In) was born of long-time Ohio breeders Dr. Daniel Yates and Patricia Yates.  Swinkey is a ½ sister to an Ohio stakes-winner (Conniption Fit) that was bred and campaigned by Dr. Yates.  Danza stands at Fair Winds Farm in Waynesville, Ohio.

The excitement will continue throughout the 2021 foaling season as Ohio’s breeders and owners look to the future of an improving foal crop.

Many other quality Stallions now stand in Ohio and are available to breed to on an individual basis. Please contact the farms directly, many of which you can find in our stallion and farm directories on this website.

Note to Farm/Stallion owners – if your information has changed, please submit those changes to us at ohiobreeders@gmail.com so we can update the listings. Thank you.