Maker's stakes brigade includes five for John Battaglia

To note that trainer Mike Maker is running stakes horses most everywhere Saturday would not be an overstatement. Besides starting horses at his principal winter base of Gulfstream Park, he has Keystoneforvictory and High Noon Rider racing in Barbados and five horses entered in Saturday evening’s $100,000 John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park.

Running so many horses in stakes has been a recurring theme for Maker this year. He swept the trifecta in the John B. Connally Turf Cup at Sam Houston in January and finished one-two with two of three starters in the Fair Grounds Handicap last week.

In training a large stable, particularly one with a concentration of turf and synthetic specialists, running a number of horses in the same stakes sometimes is necessary, Maker said.

Maker will be at Gulfstream on Saturday, where he has Bigger Picture, Charming Kitten, and Taghleeb entered in the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida, leading him to bypass a trip to the small island country of Barbados for the Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup, a race he won in 2014 with Major Marvel and in 2015 with Sayler’s Creek.

“I hate to miss it,” he said Tuesday from Florida. “It was a good experience when I was last there a couple years ago – a very enthusiastic crowd.”

Keystoneforvictory will be favored in Barbados, with High Noon Rider one of the secondary public choices. But Maker’s chances are also favorable in the other stakes Saturday at Gulfstream and Turfway.

His Battaglia representatives are En Hanse and Hunka Burning Love – the first- and third-place finishers from the preceding stakes race for 3-year-old colts at Turfway, the WEBN Stakes – plus Hot Dad, Gorgeous Kitten, and Prince Hansen. Prince Hansen, the lone also-eligible among 13 entered for the race, needs a scratch to gain a starting position.

If successful Saturday, it surprisingly would mark the first Battaglia victory for Maker, who has long dominated the Turfway Park trainer standings and has won the Spiral Stakes three times, including last year with Oscar Nominated.

Besides the Maker group, leading contenders in the Battaglia include WEBN runner-up Star Empire and It’s Your Nickel, an allowance winner via disqualification at Fair Grounds on Jan. 27. Wesley Ward trains Star Empire; Ken McPeek trains It’s Your Nickel.

Happy Hour Handicapping

Fans eager to get a start on handicapping the Battaglia – as well as the Kentucky Derby – have an opportunity to attend “Happy Hour Handicapping” at 7 p.m. Friday at Turfway. Hosted by racing writer Jennie Rees and Mike Battaglia, the track’s former announcer who works as Turfway’s associate vice president and makes the morning lines at Churchill Downs, the handicapping seminar will focus on the Battaglia, Spiral, and Kentucky Derby.

Seminar attendees will receive free general admission to the Spiral card, which also features the Grade 3 Bourbonette Oaks, a prep for the Kentucky Oaks. Numerous giveaways also are planned.

Happy Hour Handicapping is free and coincides with Turfway’s dollar night on Fridays, when draft beers and hot dogs are a buck apiece.

Tight race for top rider

While Alonso Quinonez and Albin Jimenez are the top prospects to become the leading jockey at Turfway, topping the standings entering Thursday’s card with 32 and 31 winners, this winter/spring meet also has proven rewarding for other riders.

Jack Gilligan is third in the standings with 25 winners, followed by Orlando Mojica with 21, Abel Lezcano with 20, and John McKee with 19.

Among riders in the top 10, no jockey has a higher return on investment than Cory Orm, who is 12 for 65 (18 percent) since Jan. 1, with an ROI of $2.51.