Dates changed for Spiral preps

The two preps for the Grade 3, $550,000 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky have been moved to later in the winter-spring meet, with the $50,000 WEBN Stakes now set for Feb. 20 and the $100,000 Battaglia Memorial now March 12.

The Spiral Stakes on April 2 carries 50 Kentucky Derby eligibility points to the winner.

Turfway racing secretary Tyler Picklesimer said a clerical oversight led to the 6 1/2-furlong WEBN originally being scheduled for Jan. 30 and the 1 1/16-mile Battaglia for Feb. 27.

“That was my fault,” Picklesimer said. “We’ll try to make sure everyone is aware of the scheduling changes through email blasts and the like. There’s now three weeks between each race, which is what we had always intended.”

Wesley Ward, with some 30 horses in training at Keeneland, is among the prominent trainers pointing some of his 3-year-olds to the Turfway preps.

The 1 1/8-mile Spiral is the most valuable of three synthetic-track races on the 35-race Kentucky Derby points schedule, with the others being the Grey Stakes at Woodbine (won last October by Riker) and the Feb. 13 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate. Those races are worth just 10 points each to the winner.

The 2015 Spiral winner, Dubai Sky, missed the Derby because of injury, but seven of the eight prior Spiral winners ran back in the Derby, most notably 2011 winner Animal Kingdom and 2007 runner-up Hard Spun. Polytrack has been in use at Turfway since September 2005.