The 2018 Ohio Sires Stakes season commences this weekend with events for three-year-old trotters and pacers of both genders at Miami Valley Raceway on May 4 and 6.

Sophomore fillies will be in the spotlight Friday night, with two $50,000 trotting and four $40,000 pacing divisons. Miami Valley Racing Secretary Gregg Keidel found 17 trotting and 32 pacing sires stakes eligibles in his entry box earlier this week for Leg One of the four-leg sires stakes series.

Returning is last year’s freshman standout Looking For Zelda, a multiple sires stakes winner in 2017, who heads into her division (Race 3) fresh off a 1:55.2 victory in the $50,000 Scarlet & Gray on April 27.

The daughter by Break The Bank K, who was bred and is owned by Bob Key of Leechburg, PA, has been conditioned throughout her career by Norm Parker, and sports a hefty $253,675 bankroll.

“’Zelda’ had a good winter,” confirmed Parker, from his training base at the Meadows. “She came back strong and is the kind of the same horse, just a little bit more mature. The (EHV-1) quarantine slowed us up a bit, but it actually helped, as it gave me a little more time to get her ready.”

Looking For Zelda is an eight-time winner from 12 career starts, and will start from Post 9 with regular pilot Tony Hall at the controls.

Impinktoo, who captured Ohio’s $250,000 sires stakes championship for her division in 2017 in a mild upset in 1:57, will return to battle in the first sires stakes division (Race 2). The Manofmanymissions distaffer has earned $173,290 in her career, with a trio of wins from 12 starts for Ohio partners Joe McLead, Billy Walters and RTK Racing, under the watchful eye of trainer Jim Dailey.

Ohio’s trotting guru, Chris Beaver, will send out three contestants in this first sires stakes leg, including Sandra Burnett’s Red Storm in the first division (Race 2). The Storming Normand homebred captured both the $15,000 elim and $40,000 Hackett final on April 9 and 16 respectively, upping her career earnings to $149,975, before finishing a close second to the aforementioned Looking For Zelda in the Scarlet & Gray.

Beaver’s other entrants include Californian Love (Race 2), who won a Northfield conditioned event on April 25 in 1:58.4 in a wire-to-wire effort, and Sesame (Race 3), a daughter of Triumphant Caviar with $87,797 in her lifetime bank account.

In the four $40,000 divisions for three-year-old Ohio-bred pacing fillies, last year’s $250,000 Ohio championship victress Bad Girls Rule will return to vie from Post 8 in the fourth sires stakes division (Race 10). Conditioned by Jim Dailey for the 3rd Floor Stables of Springboro, OH, the daughter by World Of Rocknroll amassed $181,816 as a freshman, winning four of eight starts. Dailey also sends out $28,915-earner Mercilless in the first division (Race 4).

The Tye Loy trainee Big Bad Goldie will also head postward in the fourth division (Race 10). The daughter of Big Bad John captured the 2017 sires stakes consolation for freshman pacing fillies in 1:54.3, and sports a lifetime bankroll of $60,701 for the Ohio trio of David Wills, Richard Coad and Doug Gregory.

Trainer Brian Brown — the 2017 Dan Patch Award Trainer of the Year & Good Guy award winner — will send seven fillies postward in the sires stakes pacing divisions, most notably, Prsntpretynperfect in division two (Race 6). The Big Bad John lass earned $125,166 for Jennifer Brown, Richard Lombardo and Marlene Taylor last season, sweeping all four $40,000 legs of her sires stakes contests, and the $43,333 Ohio Breeders Championship for two-year-olds at Delaware.

Baron Remy, a $124,189 winner for trainer Ron Burke, will head behind the gate in the third sires stakes division (Race 8), vying against Believe In Waco, a $125,598 earner for trainer Steve Novak. The former is a daughter of Yankee Cruiser owned by Burke Racing, Silva, Purnel & Libby and Weaver Bruscemi, while the latter is a Believeinbruiser distaff owned by Gerald Mijal of Michigan. Believe In Waco was a smart second in last year’s $250,000 Ohio championship for two-year-old fillies, while Baron Remy captured her $43,333 Ohio Breeders Championship at Delaware and most recently took a $50,000 Scarlet & Gray division at Miami Valley in a career best 1:52.

Up Front Flor Ida, who won both her $15,000 Hackett elim and $40,000 Final (in 1:52.4), will hail from Post 1 in the first sires stakes division (Race 4). Trained by Tim McKoy for Kevin & Virginia McKinney, the bay daughter of Woodstock has a bankroll of $55,824 and will leave from the coveted rail slot.

Ohio Sires Stakes action will continue on Sunday afternoon at Miami Valley Raceway, with contests for three-year-old pacing and trotting colts and geldings.

(OSDF)