Epic Ride takes Leonatus in two-turn, stakes debut

The later-developing Epic Ride delivered an emphatic performance in his stakes and two-turn debut on Friday night at Turfway Park, winning the $125,000 Leonatus Stakes by four lengths despite showing some greenness in the lane, a performance that could propel him toward Kentucky Derby points races next month.

Epic Ride ($5.56), a May foal, did not debut until December for trainer John Ennis and owner Welch Racing, but has been blossoming at Turfway. The colt finished second by a neck after an awkward start in his debut going six furlongs on Dec. 8. He went the same distance on Jan. 5, and this time made all the pace, rolling home by five lengths. The son of Breeders' Cup Classic winner Blame thus stretched out to a mile for the Leonatus.

Epic Ride, sent away as the second choice in the Leonatus, broke alertly and led through the early jumps under Adam Beschizza, with favored Vote No, winner of the Turfway Prevue Stakes last month, just to his outside. A pumped-up Vote No, with Gerardo Corrales sitting against him with his feet well in front, quickly tugged his way to the front. Epic Ride raced kindly to the inside of him, continuing to save ground as the majority of the field bunched up through a moderate opening half in 48.76 seconds.

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Epic Ride put a neck in front around the far turn as Vote No began to come under a ride, but was by no means home free, with five horses separated by just more than a length. Despite being slow to change leads and drifting out toward the middle of the track, the colt was confidently handled by Beschizza, and opened up through the lane to the wire.

His final time for the mile on the Tapeta was 1:39.24.

Blue Eyed George, who switched to the inside for his final run, was second, 1 3/4 lengths clear of Good Bali. They were followed, in order, by Salvattore Prince, the fading Vote No, and longshot Bettering, who trailed throughout.

The Leonatus is the first in the trio of Turfway's two-turn stakes for 3-year-olds leading toward the Kentucky Derby. The $150,000 John Battaglia Memorial, going 1 1/16 miles on March 2, awards points toward the spring classic on the 20-10-6-4-2 scale, while the Grade 3, $700,000 Jeff Ruby, at 1 1/8 miles on March 23, has points on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis. Rich Strike raced through this entire series in 2022 before upsetting the Derby, finishing third in the Leonatus, fourth in the Battaglia, and third in the Ruby. Last year, Two Phil's came to town to win the Ruby en route to a strong second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.

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