Scoobie Quando can prove he's the real deal in John Battaglia Memorial

Scoobie Quando debuted in style with a stakes victory at Turfway Park in the first week of this year. A victory in Saturday night’s $150,000 John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park could stamp him as a Kentucky Derby contender.

A full field of 12 3-year-olds run in the Battaglia, at 1 1/16 miles on Turfway’s Tapeta. The race awards Kentucky Derby qualifying points to its top five finishers on a 20-8-6-4-2 scale, and serves as the final local prep toward the Grade 3, $700,000 Jeff Ruby on March 25, a 100-40-30-20-10 points prep. Saturday’s nine-race program has a first post of 5:55 p.m. and includes the $150,000 Cincinnati Trophy for 3-year-old fillies, which awards qualifying points toward the Kentucky Oaks on a 20-8-6-4-2 scale.

Scoobie Quando, a son of classic sire Uncle Mo and multiple graded stakes-winning turf mare Daveron, debuted in the Jan. 7 Turfway Prevue at 6 1/2 furlongs. Scoobie Quando and jockey Luan Machado were never out of striking range in a field of five, and prevailed in a stout drive to win by a neck.

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Scoobie Quando stretched out for a one-mile allowance/optional-claiming race on Feb. 11 at Turfway. He came with a four-wide run in the stretch and finished second by 2 1/2 lengths to Wadsworth, a promising Godolphin homebred who is considered a Jeff Ruby candidate for trainer Brad Cox.

Trainer Ben Colebrook said Scoobie Quando “ran to how he worked” in the Prevue.

“He’s light on experience,” Colebrook said, “so we opted to run him in the allowance race, where Luan said once he sort of got to the outside he was able to make a better run, but was just second best that day.”

Cox has a pair from his strong 3-year-old division for the Battaglia in American Speed and Aristocracy. American Speed, in his first start for Cox after being transferred from Rodolphe Brisset, finished second in the one-mile Leonatus Stakes on Jan. 21 at Turfway to Funtastic Again, another leading prospect for the Ruby.

Gilmore has made a recent barn switch, from Bob Baffert, whose runners are banned from participating in the Kentucky Derby or earning qualifying points, to Brendan Walsh. The colt was second in the El Camino Real Derby Feb. 11 on Golden Gate’s synthetic surface, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 81. He is one of two in this field to break 80. The other is Congruent, who was third in the Pulpit Stakes going seven furlongs on Gulfstream Park’s turf with an 82 in December. Congruent won last fall’s off-the-turf Laurel Futurity at a mile.

Completing the main body of this field are allowance-level winner Bromley; maiden winners Eyes On the King, Freezing Point, Good Heart, Miranda Rights, and Moon Landing; and the maiden Accident. Ironsides, third in the Leonatus, and Clear the Air are also-eligibles. Clear the Air is cross-entered in Saturday’s Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, where he is drawn in the main body of the field.

◗ Earlier on the card, Fun and Feisty makes her 3-year-old debut in the Cincinnati Trophy. Trained by Kenny McPeek, Fun and Feisty won the Grade 3 Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs in September; was eighth in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland in October; and was third behind Hoosier Philly in the Rags to Riches at Churchill Downs on Oct. 30 in her last start.

B G Warrior tries for her second stakes win in the Cincinnati Trophy. The front-running B G Warrior crossed the line first in December’s Gowell Stakes before being disqualified to second for interference. She then won the Valdale Stakes on Feb. 11.

Bulsara won a one-mile allowance/optional claimer in December over Wet Paint, who has since won a pair of stakes at Oaklawn Park. Bulsara most recently was fifth in the Grade 3 Sweetest Chant on Gulfstream’s turf.

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