LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dale Romans has had some stars of yesterday, but he’d like one for today and tomorrow. The highly decorated trainer believes he just might have one in Cyclone Mischief, part of a competitive field in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Saturday at Churchill Downs. “This race is going to tell us a whole lot,” Romans said. “We’ve always thought very highly of him. There’d be no better time than Saturday for him to go on and show everybody what he’s all about.” Cyclone Mischief, by uber-sire Into Mischief, is one of nine colts in the Grade 2, $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club, a 1 1/16-mile race that anchors another Stars of Tomorrow program exclusively for 2-year-olds. The KJC, which offers qualifying points on a revised scale of 10-4-3-2-1 to the top five finishers toward the 2023 Kentucky Derby, will be run under the Churchill lights at 5:56 p.m. Eastern as the 11th of 12 races. First post is 1 p.m. :: DRF Black Friday Sale: Save 20% on DRF PPs, Clocker Reports, and other handicapping essentials An Oct. 19 maiden victory by Cyclone Mischief going two turns at Keeneland led Romans to start thinking big. The bay colt will have Joe Talamo back aboard breaking from post 9. “He’s handy, so Joe ought to be able to get him in the right spots,” Romans said. “It’ll be up to the horse after that.” That’s pretty much the same story for all of them. Curly Jack (post 1, Edgar Morales), winner of the first Derby points qualifier, the Sept. 17 Iroquois at Churchill, most recently was fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland, while Instant Coffee (post 8, Luis Saez) is another logical favorite after running fourth in the Breeders’ Futurity following an eye-catching debut at Saratoga. Kenny McPeek, like Romans, will be looking for a minor upset. McPeek starts Denington and Hayes Strike, both of whom he said are “big, strong horses still eligible for a ‘one-other-than’ condition. They both deserve a try at this.” Steve Asmussen also has two starters in Gigante and Red Route One, with Red Route One, a son of Gun Runner, probably rating the better chance after outrunning his 59-1 odds when third in the Breeders’ Futurity, then apparently not caring for the slop when a well-beaten fifth in the Street Sense, part of the first Stars of Tomorrow card of the fall meet on Oct 30. Conspicuous by his absence from the KJC lineup is Extra Anejo, whose spectacular debut at Keeneland last month already has him pegged as one of the early Derby favorites. Extra Anejo was among the Asmussen horses leaving early for Fair Grounds, where the colt could make his second start in the Gun Runner on Dec. 26. Asmussen, as usual, is riding high. The Hall of Fame trainer extended his all-time leading total for wins by a trainer in North America to 9,949 on Wednesday when his son Keith rode his first-ever Churchill winner, Tonal Impact, owned and trained by Asmussen. “That’s as good as it gets,” said Asmussen, who turned 57 last week. The KJC, first run in 1920, has been won by five horses that went on to capture the Derby the following spring, although Cannonade (1973-74) and Super Saver (2009-10) are the only ones in the last 90-plus years to pull off that double. Smile Happy won the 2021 KJC for McPeek, then finished eighth in the 2022 Derby behind Rich Strike. He has been unraced since then. The KJC is part of an outstanding card that not only includes its Grade 2 twin, the Golden Rod, but two other stakes, the Fern Creek and Ed Brown. A program that drew a total of 133 entries (including also-eligibles) is further filled out by three allowances and five maiden-specials, each of them with a purse of at least $120,000. All purses include substantial bonuses restricted to registered Kentucky-breds. Some of the undercard races drew horses of fabulous pedigree, none better than Itzos, a first-time starter in race 12. The $1.4 million purchase by the OXO Equine of Larry Best was sired by Bolt d’Oro, a son of Medaglia d’Oro, and produced by Lotta Kim, making the colt a three-quarter brother to the great Rachel Alexandra. More mild weather is in store for Saturday, with highs expected to top out in the mid-50s. The 19-day meet ends Sunday with the Grade 3 Commonwealth Turf as the feature. After two dark days, the newly renovated Turfway Park in northern Kentucky begins four months of winter racing Wednesday. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.