Turfway Park: Poker Player, Solitary Ranger try to stand out in well-matched Battaglia field

Some under-the-radar scrambling for a Kentucky Derby foothold will take place Saturday at Turfway Park, where 11 3-year-olds will have an audition of sorts for the track’s only Derby-points event when running in the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes.

The $100,000 Battaglia, a 1 1/16-mile Polytrack race carded as the 10th of 11 Saturday races, is a lead-in to the March 22 Spiral Stakes, a Derby prep worth 50 points to the winner. As such, there is no shortage of big-stable representation in the Battaglia, as trainers Todd Pletcher, Kiaran McLaughlin, Wayne Catalano, and Mike Maker all will send out horses trying to enhance their Derby stature.

There is no obvious favorite in a very well-matched 32nd running of the Battaglia, although Catalano might have the strongest hand in the uncoupled duo of Poker Player and Solitary Ranger, who will start from posts 1 and 2, respectively. Both colts have been stabled all winter at Fair Grounds, from where Catalano will travel to be on hand Saturday at the Florence, Ky., track.

“It’s a little unfortunate that I have to run them against each other, but every time I tried to run them on the grass here, the race got rained off,” Catalano said Thursday from New Orleans. “This race works for both of them with the Poly and all. After this I’ll send them to Keeneland, where [assistant] Kelsey Danner will look after them, and hopefully they’ll both earn a shot Saturday at running back in the Spiral.

“They’re both really nice horses. One has speed [Solitary Ranger] and the other comes from off it [Poker Player]. We’ll see how it all sets up for them.”

Maker also has an uncoupled pair in General Jack (post 8) and Harry’s Holiday (post 11), the latter an eight-length winner of the 6 1/2-furlong 96 Rock Stakes four weeks ago at Turfway.

“We’re excited about getting General Jack back into the swing of things,” said Maker, referring to a five-month layoff for the Giant’s Causeway colt. “And hopefully Harry’s Holiday can duplicate his last effort when we stretch him out here.”

Pletcher, who nominated a record 41 3-year-olds to the 2014 Triple Crown, is sending Canzoni (post 3) to Turfway from his winter base at Palm Meadows in South Florida. Pletcher noted the gray colt “got beat a dirty nose” in his last outing over a synthetic surface at the Ocala Training Center and the Battaglia was a logical next step.

McLaughlin, who has one of the early favorites for the May 3 Kentucky Derby in Cairo Prince, is sending a Darley homebred, Empower (post 9), from New York off a 1 1/2-length victory in a one-mile maiden race at Aqueduct.

One unexpected entrant was Kids Rule (post 7), who was expected to scratch from a Friday optional claimer at Fair Grounds.

“We fit the race,” trainer Mike Stidham said. “He’s a big-striding horse that comes late and is still kind of learning.”

The Battaglia is named for the late general manager of Turfway (then Latonia). His son, Mike, will call the race from his usual vantage point in the announcer’s booth before joining his family to make the trophy presentation.

The actual purse for the race is $75,000, with an additional $25,000 available to horses eligible to the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund.

First post Saturday is 1:10 p.m. Eastern, with the feature scheduled to go at 5:22. TVG has coverage. The weather forecast calls for cloudy skies and a high of 48 degrees.