Wadsworth taking Turfway trail to Kentucky Derby
The well-bred Wadsworth has hit his stride at Turfway Park, with a Saturday night allowance-level score his second straight win on the Tapeta. Trainer Brad Cox said he and owner-breeder Godolphin are “definitely considering” Turfway’s upcoming Kentucky Derby points races for the gelding.
Wadsworth is by Quality Road and out of turf Grade 1 winner Dickinson, who was stakes-placed on dirt early in her career. Dickinson, in turn, is out of Little Belle, winner of the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes on Polytrack at Keeneland but multiple Grade 1-placed on dirt that season, including a runner-up effort in the 2008 Kentucky Oaks.
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Wadsworth made three starts on dirt last summer and fall, with his best placing a fourth on Oct. 19 at Keeneland. Gelded following that effort, he returned Dec. 31 to deliver a breakthrough performance at Turfway, leading throughout and clearing by 10 lengths. In his first start against winners, again going a mile in an allowance/optional claimer on Saturday, Wadsworth had an awkward start; some slow starts and bobbles also had troubled him in his dirt efforts last year. Racing in sixth early, the gelding this time showed the ability to recover and was ridden out to win by 2 1/2 lengths. In both Turfway outings, he has earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 82.
Turfway’s upcoming points races for the Kentucky Derby are the $150,000 John Battaglia Memorial on March 4, which awards points to the top finishers on a 20-8-6-4-2 scale; and the Grade 3, $700,000 Jeff Ruby on March 25, a 100-40-30-20-10 prep. A leading candidate for those races is Funtastic Again, an easy 3 3/4-length winner of the one-mile Leonatus Stakes on Jan. 21 at Turfway for Three Chimneys Farm and Wesley Ward. The colt logged his first breeze since on Feb. 9, vanning from Ward’s base at Keeneland, where training on the Polytrack training track is currently open, to Turfway for a half-mile move.
Last year’s Turfway series produced upset Derby winner Rich Strike, who was third in the Leonatus, fourth in the Battaglia, and third in the Ruby.
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