Awesome Road ran like a Triple Crown kind of horse winning his career debut at Ellis Park. Second time out, in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, Awesome Road ran like someone had given him a triple shot of Crown Royal. Maybe the big win at Ellis was illusory, but perhaps that distant seventh-place finish at Keeneland makes Awesome Road a value proposition Saturday at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. Awesome Road drew post 1 and will be ridden by Flavien Prat while facing no more than seven in the Grade 2, $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club, a 1 1/16-mile dirt race for 2-year-olds, the penultimate contest on Churchill’s 12-race Stars of Tomorrow card, populated only by 2-year-olds. The Kentucky Jockey Club is part of the Road to the Derby, awarding its first five finishers Kentucky Derby qualifying points (10-5-3-2-1). Awesome Road, Stretch Ride, and Risk It are the three Kentucky Jockey Club favorites. Risk It scored a sharp debut win at Saratoga while Stretch Ride has been a game winner in his first two starts, but it was Awesome Road, a strapping son of Quality Road who fetched $600,000 at a yearling auction, who suggested in his debut that he has the highest ceiling. :: DRF's Black Friday Sale: Get 20% off (almost) everything in the DRF Shop. Code: BF2023 Awesome Road won first out by nearly three lengths over runner-up Stronghold, who had more than 10 lengths on the show horse, won his next race, and most recently finished second to mighty Nysos in the Bob Hope Stakes. Awesome Road earned a flashy 88 Beyer Speed Figure while looking like a horse built for route racing with speed to succeed at six furlongs. Then came the Breeders’ Futurity over 1 1/16 miles around two turns. Breaking from post 2, Awesome Road stumbled slightly, leaned inward, was behind horses and steadied slightly into the first turn, raced near the rear, and never came close to contending. The dud effort still puzzles Brad Cox, who trains Awesome Road for Albaugh Family Stables and Donegal Racing. “I’m just hoping he breaks sharp and puts himself in the race. He does need to get involved,” Cox said. Online video of post-Keeneland workouts encourages the notion Awesome Road can bounce back. On. Nov. 3, Awesome Road, clocked in 1:01 for five furlongs, smoking his workmate, the 3-year-old stakes horse Slip Mahoney, passing the finish full of run and galloping out with verve. On Nov. 10, Awesome Road was held a couple lengths off 4-year-old stakes horse Best Actor, pouncing and passing at the wire before rolling powerfully through the clubhouse turn and onto the backstretch, this five-furlong drill timed in 59.80 seconds. “He’s been spot-on in his works,” Cox said. Stretch Ride, a son of Street Sense trained by Dale Romans for West Point Thoroughbreds, has needed no excuse. Caught between horses racing near the lead debuting at six furlongs Sept. 17 at Churchill, Stretch Ride let his two pace rivals go in upper stretch before coming outside and swooping past with a 12.38 final furlong, winning by a half-length over Agoo, who came back with a Keeneland maiden win. Stretch Ride also raced at Keeneland, going two turns in a first-level allowance, where again he was unfazed by a “between” trip, pulling away from the Cox-trained favorite Lightline to win by almost six lengths despite failing to change leads in the homestretch. “He switched leads first time, and I think that was just a mental thing,” Romans said. “He’s one the more you do with him, the better he gets, like the good horses do.” Risk It was made the 5-2 favorite over 3-1 Stretch Ride and 7-2 Awesome Road despite appearing to tire late finishing second as the odds-on favorite in his most recent race, the Sept. 16 Iroquois, a one-turn Churchill mile. Risk It, by Gun Runner, popped to the lead and won easily debuting over six furlongs at Saratoga. In the Iroquois, he was fortunate to hold on for second. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. “He’s very talented. Obviously, this is his first attempt at two turns, and how far he can go at this level is the big question,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Risk It for Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm. Real Men Violin scored a fifth-out mile maiden win Oct. 29 in the Churchill slop, while Dancing Groom finished a distant third last out in the Grade 1 Champagne, also run on a sloppy track. Fierceness emerged from a seventh-place Champagne finish to romp in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile for trainer Todd Pletcher, who sends Nomos to make his dirt debut in the Kentucky Jockey Club. Honor Marie tries two turns for the first time while making his third start and isn’t hopeless. One Red Cent is no more than a pace factor – maybe just a bump in an Awesome Road. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.