Final Gambit returns to Tapeta in search of best form
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The $125,000 Last Hurrah Stakes, on the final Saturday in December at Turfway Park, provides one final chance for 3-year-olds to race in age-restricted stakes company in Kentucky. There are three stakes winners in the field, including the 3-year-old who won Turfway’s biggest race of the year en route to the Kentucky Derby.
Final Gambit thrived at Turfway last winter for Juddmonte and Brad Cox, taking his maiden before rallying from last to win the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby, the Florence, Ky., track’s signature Derby prep. Final Gambit subsequently finished a creditable fourth in the Derby, again running in last early before rallying on the sloppy, sealed track in his first start on dirt.
Since then, however, Final Gambit has failed to crack the top three in five stakes starts, all in graded company and mainly on turf. Most recently, he was eighth in the Grade 3 Bryan Station on Oct. 25 on the Keeneland turf. After a brief freshening, it is hoped that a return to the site of his biggest performance, and at the same 1 1/8-mile distance, will spark a turnaround.
California Burrito and Maximum Promise also were both active in Turfway’s 3-year-old stakes series earlier this year. California Burrito won the John Battaglia Memorial, the local prep for the Ruby, on the front end for trainer Tommy Drury. He was leading early in the stretch of the Ruby before taking an awkward step near the eighth pole and faltering to finish seventh. The colt was sound following the incident, and Drury believed he tried to jump tire tracks.
California Burrito also tried dirt on Derby Day, finishing eighth in the slop in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile. He did not resurface until the Grade 3 Commonwealth Turf on Nov. 22 at Churchill Downs, finishing sixth in his first start in more than six months. Having likely needed that race, he has trained solidly at Turfway in recent weeks.
California Burrito, who is drawn on the rail, could wind up the controlling speed in the Last Hurrah, as he has shown more class than the other potential pace factors. Fountain Run set the pace in a claiming win last time out. Rank is multiple stakes-placed in California but is a maiden after 15 starts.
A lack of contested pace would pose a hurdle for late-running Final Gambit.
Maximum Promise was third in both the Battaglia and Ruby but also is winless in five starts since, although he was a solid second in a Churchill turf allowance to Montador. He adds blinkers to try to get him more involved here.
Joining Final Gambit and California Burrito as a stakes winner in the field is Anegada, rallying winner of the Hawthorne Derby two starts back. He finished fourth most recently, beaten 1 1/2 lengths in the Commonwealth Turf.
Energize will be making his stakes and synthetic debut after racing solely on dirt. The lightly raced Godolphin homebred, trained by Michael Stidham, is coming off an allowance win at Churchill. He posted a Beyer Speed Figure of 95, the top last-out number in this field. Only Final Gambit, whose Derby effort earned a 98, has a higher career figure.
Drawn in the outside post in the field of nine, Energize is well-placed to drop in behind the speed and stalk.
Completing the field are Urban Planner, a two-time Turfway allowance/optional-claiming winner earlier this year, and National Law, whose two wins have come on dirt in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Saturday’s card concludes the December Holiday meet. Turfway officially splits its four-month stand into two meets, with the winter-spring meet opening Jan. 1 and running through March 28.
After a pair of Sunday upsets on Turfway’s rescheduled Synthetic Championships card, with Mink’s Palace ($26.28) winning the Holiday Inaugural and Joe Shiesty ($21.08) taking the Holiday Cheer, the Last Hurrah could be part of a big pick six pool on Saturday. There was a carryover of $226,238 on the jackpot wager into Friday’s card and a mandatory payout on Saturday.
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