Kaely's Brother moves to synthetic for Turfway Prevue
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Saturday night’s $100,000 Turfway Prevue for 3-year-olds has the potential to serve as one of the launching points into the Florence, Ky., track’s Kentucky Derby prep series.
Turfway Park’s 3-year-old series begins with the one-mile $100,000 Leonatus Stakes on Jan. 22, and the $120,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes on March 5, a 1 1/16-mile race offering its top finishers Kentucky Derby qualifying points on a 10-4-2-1 scale.
The track’s major Kentucky Derby prep race is the Grade 3, $600,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks, positioned five weeks prior to the Kentucky Derby on April 2. Part of the final major round of preps, the nine-furlong event awards points on a 100-40-20-10 scale.
The 6 1/2-furlong Turfway Prevue has drawn a field of nine.
Kaely’s Brother, trained by Brad Cox, is one of three stakes winners in the Turfway Prevue field. Kaely’s Brother, who will be ridden by Joe Talamo, was a maiden winner at Keeneland last fall, then crossed the line a creditable second after being checked hard in the Jean Lafitte Stakes at Delta Downs. He was promoted to the win upon the disqualification of first-place finisher Waita Minute Hayes.
From there, Kaely’s Brother finished fifth in the Sugar Bowl Stakes on Dec. 27 at Fair Grounds. He was awarded a Beyer Speed Figure of 79, the top number in this field.
This will be the first start on a synthetic surface for Kaely’s Brother. A Dean Maltzman homebred colt, Kaely’s Brother is by Twirling Candy, whose progeny often succeed on a variety of surfaces. For example, the stallion’s 2021 Preakness Stakes hero Rombauer also won on turf and synthetic.
There are two other stakes winners in the Prevue field, most significantly Nobals. The gelding won the Arlington-Washington Futurity last August on Arlington Park’s Polytrack, earning a Beyer of 78 for the seven-furlong race. Trained by Larry Rivelli, he finished second in the Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial Juvenile on the synthetic track at Presque Isle Downs on Oct. 11.
Determined Kingdom won the Jamestown Stakes against Virginia-breds on the turf at Colonial Downs for trainer Phil Schoenthal.
Trikitraki steps up to stakes company after winning both his starts, taking an off-the-turf maiden race at Gulfstream followed by an allowance race on the Tapeta there.
Red Label won an allowance race at Churchill Downs last fall, while Lucky Shot comes in off a runaway allowance victory at Hawthorne.