Top Spiral contenders breeze for Derby prep

With just more than a week until the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park on March 21, three of the prominent runners being pointed for the race – Imperia, Metaboss, and Conquest Typhoon – breezed Friday.

Imperia, the winner of last year’s Grade 3 Pilgrim on turf at Belmont Park who was fifth in the Risen Star in his lone start at 3, went a half-mile at Palm Meadows in 48.90 seconds. Across the country, Metaboss and Conquest Typhoon, the first- and third-place finishers in the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby on Feb. 14, each breezed six furlongs at Santa Anita, with the former going in 1:14.80 and the latter in 1:13.80.

An overflow is possible for the $550,000 Spiral, a 1 1/8-mile race on Polytrack, according to Turfway Park stakes coordinator Tia Murphy. Entries, capped at 14, will be taken Sunday.

Other horses considered probable to enter include Royal Son, the winner of the John Battaglia Memorial, the final local prep for the Spiral, Firespike, Dubai Sky, Magic of Believing, Danny Boy, Wireless Future, Task Force Glory, Watchyourownbobber, Big Family, Pepper Roani, Saham, and Milwaukee Mist, according to Murphy.

The connections of Private Prospect and Another Lemon Drop are “still considering,” she said.

If the race is overdrawn, Milwaukee Mist would be the horse most at risk of being excluded, having the lowest earnings, the final criterion used to determine preference.

Big Family also worked Friday, going five furlongs in 1:04 at Gulfstream Park West for trainer Gustavo Delgado. In his most recent start, he finished a distant second to the now-sidelined Khozan at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 22.

With Keeneland changing its main track from Polytrack to dirt last summer, the Spiral now is the richest Kentucky Derby prep run on a synthetic track. During the Polytrack era at Keeneland, the Blue Grass held that distinction. The El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate, run for a $200,000 purse last month, is the second-richest.

In keeping with the widespread belief among horsemen that turf horses are a little more apt to make the successful transition to Polytrack, most of those horses pointing for the race have grass experience, and of those who don’t, most already have synthetic experience.

Eighty-five Kentucky Derby qualifying points are on the line in the Spiral, with 50 points to be awarded to the winner. The 20 points that the second-place finisher in the Spiral earns typically put that horse on the fringe of making the cutoff for the Derby when it is overdrawn.

Bourbonette field still in flux

Sharing the card with the Spiral is the Grade 3, $150,000 Bourbonette Oaks, a one-mile race for 3-year-old fillies that serves as a prep for the Kentucky Oaks.

With nominations just closing Thursday, Murphy said the composition of that field isn’t as well established as the Spiral.

The connections of Sharla Rae, Sweet Success, and Don’t Leave Me stated at the time of their nominations that they intend to run, Murphy said.

Trainer Mike Maker also is expected to run a pair of fillies – Flat Deposit and one of three nominees he has for owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey, probably Walking the Kitten.

◗ The Churchill Downs barn area and track has reopened after its typical winter shutdown, although only 20 horses or so are on the grounds, said Ben Huffman, racing secretary for Churchill and Keeneland.

Keeneland is expected to reopen its dirt main track Tuesday for training, Huffman said. Over the winter, horsemen based there were restricted to using the small training track, which has a Polytrack surface that better copes with harsh winter weather.