Field Pass denies Invader in Jeff Ruby Steaks

Field Pass capped a big Saturday evening at Turfway Park for trainer Mike Maker, rallying for a neck victory over favored Invader in the Grade 3, $250,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks, the track's major Kentucky Derby prep.

Maker, who also saddled Fancy Liquor to finish third in the Jeff Ruby, had earlier won the $150,000 Bourbonette Oaks, the 3-year-old filly counterpoint to the feature, with Queen of God. It marked the first time in the history of the Jeff Ruby, which has been run under several different sponsor names since 1972, and the Bourbonette Oaks, inaugurated in 1972, that a trainer has won both races in the same year. Maker has now won the Ruby six times, with Field Pass joining With A City (2006), Dean's Kitten (2010), Oscar Nominated (2016), Fast and Accurate (2017), and Somelikeithotbrown (2019). He trails only Smiley Adams for the most Jeff Ruby victories all-time; Adams dominated the race from 1977 to 1980, winning his seven editions in that span as the race was run in divisions multiple times. Meanwhile, Maker had won the Bourbonette Oaks just once before, saddling Go Noni Go in 2018. That filly was campaigned by the same connections as Field Pass, Three Diamonds Farm.

"I try to bring some of my better turf horses for the Ruby," Maker said. "It’s paid off over the years."

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The Ruby awards its top finishers points toward the Kentucky Derby starting gate on a 20-8-4-2 basis. However, Field Pass, who was sixth in his only start on dirt, an allowance-optional claiming race last fall at Churchill Downs, was not among the 347 early nominees to the Derby and the Triple Crown. Horses can still be made eligible with a $6,000 payment through March 30. After that, latecomers to the field must supplement to the gate for the hefty fee of $200,000. However, Maker indicated that Three Diamonds is unlikely to take that route with Field Pass, and more likely will target the Grade 2 American Turf Stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

Runner-up Invader, third-place Fancy Liquor, and fourth-place Halo Again are all nominees; however, none held any Kentucky Derby qualifying points entering Saturday. All are virtually certain to be excluded from the field, which is limited to 20 horses, without another successful start in a prep race. Currently, the 20th horse on the leaderboard holds 14 points, with the final round of major prep races still to come.

Fancy Liquor, who was making just his second career start, was away alertly from post 3 in the field of 11 and led the field through solid opening splits of 23.76 seconds for the quarter-mile and 47.78 for the half on the Polytrack. Invader, sent away favored off a victory in the John Battaglia Memorial on Feb. 14 at Turfway, broke well from post 10 and saved ground into the first turn to sit in second, a length behind Fancy Liquor through the opening stages. Meanwhile, Field Pass, who broke from the extreme outside post under Irad Ortiz, Jr, settled another length back in third, running three wide and in the clear throughout.

As the field left the backstretch, Ortiz let Field Pass out a notch, forcing Albin Jimenez to unleash Invader in order to get the first run on the leader. Invader was set down in earnest as the field straightened away into the stretch, but Fancy Liquor refused to easily give way. Invader got the leader's measure in the final stages, by Field Pass, who had finally built up momentum after a long drive, proved the threat. The pair hit the wire together, stopping the clock in 1:49.34 for the 1 1/8 miles.

"When I asked him, it took some time to get going," Ortiz said. "It wasn’t easy to catch [Invader], but he got the job done."

Fancy Liquor was two lengths back in third, with another 5 1/2 lengths to Halo Again. Victory Boulevard, The Stiff, Myamanoi, Dack Janiel's, Austrian, Toma Todo, and Unthrottled rounded out the order of finish.

Field Pass, a Maryland-bred son of Lemon Drop Kid, has now won three times from eight career starts, and pushed his earnings to $291,210 with the win. Grade 3-placed on the turf last summer at Saratoga, the colt was given a freshening of just more than three months after his unsuccessful try on the Churchill Downs dirt in October. He won the Dania Beach Stakes on the Gulfstream Park turf on Feb. 1, making him the second choice for the Ruby.

"He’s a good-sized horse," Maker said. "His conformation’s great. Great mind on him . . . He ran a great race off the bench in the Dania Beach in a very competitive field, and I thought he would run very well here."

This edition of the Jeff Ruby was the first contested at Turfway Park following Churchill Downs, Inc's, purchase of the track last fall, and was the last run on Polytrack in the current facilities. CDI has plans to remove the current surface and replace it with a Tapeta synthetic surface, with work on the one-mile main track beginning immediately after the current racing meet closes on March 28. The work is expected to be completed in time for the track’s 2020-21 season, which begins Dec. 2. The company also plans to raze and then rebuild the aging grandstand and other existing facilities at Turfway shortly after this meet ends, and will install historic racing machines.

But in the final renewal of the Ruby before the current grandstand and facilities, those stands were empty. Turfway Park was one of a bevy of racetracks around North American current contesting live racing without spectators, with only horsemen and essential personnel in attendance, due to the coronavirus outbreak.