Prevue begins Turfway's road to the Derby
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The stakes opportunities for 3-year-olds over the next three months at Turfway Park begin with a group with a wide range of experience entered in the $125,000 Turfway Prevue Stakes on Saturday afternoon.
The Turfway Prevue, at 6 1/2 furlongs, is the first of six stakes for 3-year-old colts to be run during Turfway’s winter/spring meeting. Next on the schedule is the $125,000 Leonatus Stakes at a mile on Jan. 21, which leads into the Florence, Ky., track’s two Kentucky Derby points races – the $150,000 John Battaglia Memorial (20-8-6-4-2) at 1 1/16 miles on March 4 and the Grade 3, $700,000 Jeff Ruby (100-40-30-20-10) at 1 1/8 miles on March 25.
The series produced last year’s upset Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike. If the runners from the Turfway Prevue want to remain in one-turn races or haven’t progressed to Kentucky Derby prep action, they will have additional opportunities on the rich March 25 card in the $250,000 Animal Kingdom Stakes at six furlongs or the $250,000 Rushaway Stakes at 1 1/16 miles.
The group of six entrants for the Prevue range in experience level from the graded stakes-placed Prove Right, who already has 10 starts under his belt, and the 12-start maiden Accident, to the debut winner Drew’s Gold and the debut entrant Scoobie Quando.
Prove Right has officially won twice from his 10 starts for trainer James Chapman; he crossed the wire first in another outing, but was disqualified. The colt was third in the Grade 3 Nashua Stakes going a mile at Aqueduct after leading in the early going. After finishing seventh in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes, he cut back to 5 1/2 furlongs to win an allowance race last month at Laurel. All of his wins have come around one turn.
Prove Right has never run on synthetic and was unplaced in his only try on turf, against stakes company. He is from the first crop of Triple Crown winner Justify, whose progeny have already shown talent on a variety of surfaces worldwide.
Prove Right will have competition from his own barn in Drew’s Gold, who won his only prior outing, in his debut last May 12 on the Churchill Downs dirt. The second- and third-place finishers from that race both won next out, with runner-up Undalay besting Prove Right in a maiden race. Drew’s Gold, a Violence colt whose dam is a turf stakes winner, returned to the work tab in October at Belmont and fired a bullet work from the gate in his most recent move.
It remains to be seen how many the Chapman pair will face Saturday, as three of their four foes – Retained, Scoobie Quando, and Accident – are cross-entered. Retained, who has not missed the board in five prior starts, and Scoobie Quando are both entered in a maiden race on Friday, although Scoobie Quando is the second also-eligible in an overflow field. Accident, who is stakes-placed on the Kentucky Downs turf, is entered in a maiden race Thursday night.
Schifty’s Haloid is making his second start under the care of Michael McCarthy. In his first outing for the barn, he was third in an allowance race last month at Turfway.
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