Truth Be Tolled rolling into Battaglia Memorial

Spring arrived early in Kentucky with record temperatures Monday and Tuesday, and fittingly, the Turfway Park stakes schedule also is heating up with Friday night’s $75,000 John Battaglia Memorial for 3-year-olds.

Run on March 4 last year, the Battaglia Memorial was moved to February this year and remains a prep for the Jeff Ruby Steaks, a Grade 3 race formerly known as the Spiral Stakes which was moved forward a couple of weeks to March 17 this year.

Although the Battaglia Memorial is worth $25,000 less this year than last, it still drew a full field of 12, with the shippers Sky Promise, Roaming Union, Driven by History, and Arched Feather taking on a local contingent led by Truth Be Tolled and Arawak.

Truth Be Tolled, an Awesome Again colt, has made dramatic improvement recently, winning two in a row at a mile since jockey Euclyn Prentice Jr. climbed aboard and sent him to the lead. He won a Jan. 20 maiden race by 1 1/2 lengths and wheeled back to wire a Feb. 10 allowance by 7 3/4 lengths and earned a 79 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest on a synthetic surface among the Battaglia Memorial field.

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Whether Truth Be Tolled can replicate that breakout performance on less than two weeks’ rest against a speedier, classier field will be determined Friday. TimeformUS projects a fast pace for the Battaglia Memorial, a 1 1/16-mile contest over the Polytrack.

“I’ll leave it in the jock’s hands,” trainer Jeff Greenhill said of race strategy. “I think he’ll like the extra distance. The outrider pulled him up after the last race galloping out.”

One of the other expected front-runners is Roaming Union, the 7-2 morning-line favorite, who also has won only when on the lead. He took seven races to win his maiden but did so with aplomb Jan. 18 at Aqueduct, romping in a 1 1/8-mile dirt race by 12 1/4 lengths.

If a contested pace develops, that seemingly would help the stalkers Driven by History, Arched Feather, and Arawak. Both Driven by History and Arawak are proven over synthetic tracks, with the former winning the Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial Juvenile at Presque Isle Downs in October and the latter winning an allowance Dec. 7 at Turfway. As the only stakes winner in the field, Driven by History tacks 122 pounds, while his rivals each carry 118.

Carded as the fifth race on a 10-race card that begins at 6:15 p.m. Eastern, the Battaglia goes at 8:11.