Coming in Hot scorches the competition in Prevue

Coming in Hot entered his 3-year-old season just that, as he posted a handy 1 1/2-length score over favored Touchy in the $125,000 Turfway Prevue on Saturday night.

The Prevue was the first of six stakes for 3-year-old males that will be contested over the next three months in Florence, Ky. – highlighted, by the Grade 3, $700,000 Jeff Ruby at the end of March which awards 100 points toward the Kentucky Derby, virtually assuring a spot in the starting gate. But there are lucrative opportunities both sprinting and routing during this run.

Coming in Hot ($8.38) races as a homebred for Rose Hill Farm, Vincent Colbert, John Trumbulovic, and James Connor. The son of Maclean's Music is trained by John Ennis, who was active in Turfway's 3-year-old series in 2024 with Epic Ride, who eventually made the Kentucky Derby field by drawing in as an also-eligible.

Coming in Hot has now won three times from seven career starts. The colt made his stakes debut in the Ed Brown sprinting on the dirt at Churchill Downs in November; he briefly held the lead near the quarter pole before fading to sixth. He bounced out of that effort with an impressive allowance/optional-claiming win on Dec. 18 at Turfway, displaying his affinity for the Tapeta with a 5 1/2-length score.

Coming in Hot, with Irving Moncada in the irons, kept rolling Saturday night. The colt was never far out of it in fifth as pacesetting longshot Killjoy was still running easily through the half-mile in 45.93 seconds. But that one quickly came under pressure as the field approached the quarter pole, with some foes looking for room inside as the leader came under urging, and several fanning wide, the race appearing up for grabs.

Favored Touchy got the first jump, slipping through along the rail after saving ground from an inside draw. But Coming in Hot split horses right outside of Touchy to move in tandem with that one, and quickly took command. Touchy switched to the outside and made a good try of it, but Coming in Hot was hand-ridden to the wire by Moncada for his 1 1/2-length win.

The time for the 6 1/2 furlongs was 1:17.86.

After the top two, it was a long way back to Up to No Good, 6 1/4 lengths back in third, another four lengths clear of Killjoy in fourth.

* With a significant winter storm bearing down on Kentucky, followed by days with wind chills in the single digits, Turfway will move its scheduled Wednesday racing card to Sunday, Jan. 12 with a 1 p.m. first post. The card will not be redrawn and run in its entirety on Sunday.
In a communication sent to horsemen on Friday evening, Turfway said it also anticipates the track being closed for training Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday due to snow accumulation and freezing temperatures.

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