Increased purses have made Turfway Park a strong option for horsemen who wish to compete on the Kentucky circuit year-round and, if those trainers happen to have a talented 3-year-old in the barn, the Northern Kentucky track also offers a path to the Kentucky Derby (G1).
This year's expected full field for the $777,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) points to belief in this path as the top three finishers from the track's other Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying points race, the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes, are all entered in Saturday's 1 1/8-mile test.
Aaron and Victoria Haberman's California Burrito captured the Battaglia in front-running fashion and will try for a third straight victory at Turfway in the Jeff Ruby, which offers a total of 200 Derby qualifying points on a schedule of 100-50-25-15-10 to the top five finishers. The win in the 1 1/16-mile Battaglia saw California Burrito, a son of Army Mule , secure 20 Derby qualifying points as that race awarded 20-10-6-4-2 to the top five finishers.
Baby Max, the 2-1 favorite in the Battaglia, drew post 6 for the Jeff Ruby. The son of Maximus Mischief tracked in third throughout the Battaglia before launching a stretch rally that just missed as he finished second, a half-length behind the winner. Like California Burrito, Baby Max will be making his fourth straight start at Turfway.
Maximum Promise is back at Turfway after his third-place finish in the Battaglia—where he rallied from 10th early. Conditioned by last year's Derby-winning trainer Ken McPeek, Maximum Promise finished fifth in his seasonal debut in the Lecomte Stakes (G3) Jan. 18 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots before being shipped to Turfway for a try on the Tapeta Footings surface.
Maximum Promise is a son of Maximum Security , who finished first under the wire in the 2019 Kentucky Derby but was placed 17th for interference coming out of the far turn. On Saturday he will pick up the services of Frankie Dettori, who will be on board for the first time.
Besides the top three finishers from the Battaglia, another intriguing horse who enters off a Turfway effort is Juddmonte's Final Gambit, a son of Not This Time who finished second in a Jan. 4 maiden race at the Northern Kentucky track before rallying from 11th to post a clear victory in a Feb. 15 maiden race there.
Contested under various sponsorship names over the years, the Jeff Ruby has produced three Kentucky Derby winners in Lil E. Tee (1992), Animal Kingdom (2011), and Rich Strike (2022). Lil E. Tee and Animal Kingdom both won Turfway's biggest Derby prep while Rich Strike finished third. Rich Strike is the only Kentucky Derby winner to have prepped in the Battaglia, where he finished fourth.
Perhaps the 2002 season tops the list in terms of a pair of top horses being based there through the winter to prep for the Derby. That year Perfect Drift and Request for Parole engaged in one of the track's greatest rivalries. Stonecrest Farm's Perfect Drift won the Turfway Prevue Stakes in January but then finished second to Request for Parole in both the WEBN Frog Stakes and the Battaglia before turning the tables on his rival in the Spiral Stakes (now the Jeff Ruby), where Request for Parole finished third.
Perfect Drift went on to finish third in the Kentucky Derby in a career that would see the gelding race until age 9, win a total of eight stakes—including the 2003 Stephen Foster Handicap (G1)—and place in 18 other stakes races while earning more than $4.7 million.
Request for Parole would finish fifth in the Kentucky Derby won by War Emblem. The son of Judge T C would race to age 8, counting the 2004 United Nations Stakes (G1T) among his five stakes wins. He placed in seven other stakes and earned more than $1.3 million.
