Jeff Ruby evenly matched

Analyzed as a prep race for the Kentucky Derby, Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks on Polytrack at Turfway Park is a secondary affair, overshadowed by more lucrative dirt stakes. But viewed from the perspective of a bettor, there is nothing second rate about the Jeff Ruby.

The 1 1/8-mile race – formerly called the Spiral – drew 12 entrants and is so evenly matched that the six shortest prices on the morning line range from 5-1 to 6-1.

Ascertaining who holds the edge is difficult because each horse has a degree of uncertainty surrounding him. The 5-1 co-favorites Hazit and Ride a Comet are both unraced on a synthetic surface, as are four other entrants.

Archaggelos, Blended Citizen, and Mugaritz, have competed on synthetic, but it was Tapeta rather than Polytrack, and some horses have a preference for one over the other. Those horses with experience over the local oval are receiving class tests after facing lesser company.

Race history suggests not to overlook Cash Call Kitten, a 12-1 longshot. Perfect in two starts, he won a maiden $20,000 claimer to begin his career at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 21 before taking the Feb. 17 Sage of Monticello Stakes there, a $60,000 race restricted to horses that had raced for a claiming price of $35,000 or less.

Both trainer Mike Maker and owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey are four-time winners of this race, and three of Maker’s winners, With a City (48-1 in 2006), Oscar Nominated (23-1 in 2016), and Fast And Accurate (24-1 in 2017), came with former maiden claimers.

Fast and Accurate also prepped by winning the Sage of Monticello. He ran 17th in the Kentucky Derby, continuing a trend of horses from this race that have finished out of the money in the Derby since Animal Kingdom captured both races in 2011. Lil E. Tee in 1992 is the only other winner in the race’s history to go on to victory in the Derby.

Although most in the Jeff Ruby lineup appear short of having the qualifications necessary to threaten along the Triple Crown trail, Archaggelos and Ride a Comet are related to colts that had success in that series. Archaggelos is a half-brother to Big Brown, the 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, while Ride a Comet is a half to Tapwrit, last year’s Belmont stakes winner.

Ride a Comet fits the profile of a horse able to handle Polytrack, having shown the versatility to win on dirt and turf and being by Candy Ride, whose progeny have performed well on synthetic surfaces.

Gabe Saez, who rode Ride a Comet to a maiden win in the slop and a first-level allowance victory on grass at Fair Grounds, comes in from New Orleans for the mount. He is one of numerous out-of-town jockeys participating in the Jeff Ruby, including rising young talents Tyler Gaffalione and Drayden Van Dyke.

The Jeff Ruby offers fewer Kentucky Derby qualifying points Saturday than in the past, with the winner receiving 20 points, down from 50. The race also has a smaller purse than last year, down from $500,000.

Four supporting stakes complement the Jeff Ruby on Saturday at Turfway and are linked with the feature for an all-stakes pick five. Post time for the first of those five stakes, the Latonia, is 3:33 p.m. Eastern, and the Jeff Ruby, the last race of the pick five sequence, goes at 6.

As of midday Thursday, the forecast for the Florence, Ky., area called for mostly cloudy skies on Saturday afternoon, a high of 48 degrees, and a 50 percent chance of light rain.