LOUISVILLE, Ky. – What’s the opposite of the terrible twos? That’s what they’ve got Saturday at Churchill Downs. Twelve races exclusively for 2-year-olds will make for arguably the best card of the entire Churchill fall meet, with the featured Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes emblematic of the day with a 14-horse field. Classic Causeway, Howling Time, and Tiz the Bomb are the favorites in the 95th Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, which shares the Saturday spotlight with its filly counterpart, the Golden Rod. Both are Grade 2, $400,000 races to be run at 1 1/16 miles over a track expected to be fast, and both offer qualifying points on a 10-4-2-1 scale toward the Kentucky Derby and Oaks next May. The Golden Rod and the $200,000 Lively Shively and $200,000 Fern Creek, two new sprint stakes, all sport lineups of eight and combine with the Kentucky Jockey Club in an all-stakes late pick four (races 9-12), but the eight earlier races all got capacity fields of 12. Counting also-eligibles and exclusions, there were 165 entries on this penultimate program of a meet that ends Sunday, a remarkable number considering the unavailability of a turf course due to its months-long reconstruction. :: DRF Black Friday: Get up to 50% off DRF Products. Offer ends soon. Saturday’s card is the second Stars of Tomorrow card of the 21-day fall meet, with all 12 races for 2-year-olds. First post is 1 p.m. Eastern, with the Kentucky Jockey Club being run under the lights as race 11 (5:56 post). Churchill races normally are limited to 12 starters, except in the case of certain stakes, and there hardly could be a better simulator of conditions for the 148th Derby with such a bulky field in the Kentucky Jockey Club. “They’re all in for an experience,” said Dale Romans, who’ll be looking for his first Kentucky Jockey Club victory when Joe Talamo breaks from post 5 aboard Howling Time. “It’s a major test for all of them and a great way to move forward into next year.” Howling Time belongs in the favored mix after remaining perfect in two starts with a 3 1/4-length jaunt going this same distance in the Street Sense on opening day, Oct. 31. “He’s trained awfully well since then,” Romans said. “I think he’ll be tough to beat. They’ll know he’s in there.” Classic Causeway figures to be the favorite in the Kentucky Jockey Club, with the presence of Joel Rosario in the saddle being one swaying factor. The chestnut colt will break from post 1 on Saturday after being saddled with post 13 in his last start, the Breeders’ Futurity on Oct. 9 at Keeneland, a Grade 1 race in which he was urged to the lead before settling for third as the favorite. The son of Giant’s Causeway has been held in very high regard since earning a 90 Beyer Speed Figure in winning on debut on closing weekend of the Saratoga meet. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2022: Point standings, prep schedule, news, and more “He’s come out of the Keeneland race as good as you’d want one to come,” said his trainer, Brian Lynch. “He’s the nicest young horse I’ve ever had for the dirt.” Tiz the Bomb (post 6, Brian Hernandez Jr.) switches off the turf after being the runner-up – albeit as the infamous tote winner – of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Nov. 5 at Del Mar. Trainer Ken McPeek believes the dirt is worth another try if the Derby is to remain on his radar in Florida this winter. “He broke his maiden very easily over the dirt at Ellis Park, and he always trains real well over it,” McPeek said. Fringe contenders at longer prices are in abundance here. Those sleepers include Smile Happy (post 8, Corey Lanerie), an eye-catching winner of his lone start trained by McPeek; White Abarrio (post 10, Edgard Zayas), an unbeaten Florida invader trained by Saffie Joseph Jr.; recent allowance winners Texas Red Hot (post 4, Julien Leparoux) and Vivar (post 7, Florent Geroux); and last-out maiden winners Ben Diesel (post 12, Jon Court) and Mannix (post 13, Edwin Gonzalez). Besides the Kentucky Jockey Club and its three surrounding stakes, two allowances (races 7 and 8) and four maiden-specials also will be run amid chilly but dry conditions. A daytime high of 52 is in the local forecast. Closing day is Sunday, with live action on the Kentucky circuit moving Thursday evening to Turfway Park for four months of winter racing over Tapeta. Lively Shively Stakes Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, well on his way to being the leading conditioner for a record 25th time at Churchill, sends out two of the top contenders in this six-furlong race in Cool Papa G (post 2, Rosario) and Chattalot (post 3, Geroux). They’ll have Tejano Twist (post 5, Joe Rocco Jr.), already a two-time stakes runner-up, as the one to beat. The Lively Shively and the Fern Creek, its filly counterpart, are being inaugurated partly to replace traditional turf fixtures such as the Mrs. Revere and River City while the grass course is readied for next spring.