Pleasant Prince waited until speedster Mykindacandy ran out of gas in the Thistledown stretch, then beat Worldly by a nose at the wire by a nose to win the Grade III 76th annual $100,000 Ohio Derby.
Pleasant Prince (right) is guided by jockey Alex Solis to a narrow win over Worldly in Saturday's Ohio Derby at Thistledown.NORTH RANDALL, Ohio -- Pleasant Prince waited until speedster Mykindacandy ran out of gas in the Thistledown stretch, then beat Worldly by a nose at the wire to win the Grade III 76th annual $100,000 Ohio Derby on Saturday.
It was the first win in eight starts this season for Pleasant Prince, a veteran of the three-year-old stakes with a second in the Florida Derby and a third in the Derby Trial. Veteran jockey Alex Solis said he was proud of the chestnut three-year-old son of Indy King.
"Pleasant Prince kept fighting all of the way," Solis said. "I had to get after him pretty hard at the end. I knew it would be close, but I knew my horse was running hard."
The 6-5 favorite, Pleasant Prince paid $5.60, 3., 2.40, with Worldly second, $4.80, 3.60, and Capitol Appeal a surprise third, $7.20.
As expected, Mykindacandy went after the early lead, posting a mundane opening quarter-mile in 24 seconds, and a pedestrian half-mile in 48 seconds. Pleasant Prince was sixth at the half, but not very far behind in the field of 10. Turning for home, Capitol Appeal was still stalking the leader, but coming fast were Worldly and Pleasant Prince.
In a daring move, Solis managed to find just enough room between a fading Capitol Appeal and Worldly to muscle Pleasant Prince into the lead, clocking the 1 1/16-mile in 1:43.4.
Trainer Wesley Ward, who was at the Saratoga races on Saturday, said by telephone that he was fortunate to have Solis fly in from Saratoga for the Ohio Derby to fill in for regular jockey Julien Leparous.
"[Solis] has been in so many battles," said Ward. "He's a true warrior. I thought he would fit [Pleasant Prince] like a glove."
While Ward skipped the Ohio Derby, Pleasant Prince's owner Kenneth Ramsey of Nicholasville, Ky. brought most of his family. That included son Jeff, and his wife, Patricia, a Cleveland native who graduated from Rhodes High School and Case Western Reserve University.
Ramsey had initially planned on running his Nehru, a second-place finisher in the recent $75,000 Cleveland Gold Cup, in the Ohio Derby. That was before a Ramsey van taking horses to Saratoga broke down in the Thistledown area, and the race track found stalls for all of the Ramsey horses.
As a reward for Thistledown's hospitality, Ramsey promised Director of Racing William Couch he'd send his star sophomore, Pleasant Prince, instead of Nehru for the Ohio Derby. It was a good bet for everyone.