Skywire faces stakes winners

Trainer Mark Casse already has one talented 3-year-old targeted for the Kentucky Derby in Risen Star winner War of Will. And if dreams are made this Saturday, he could have more joining that colt, with Casse starting Dream Maker and Sir Winston in the Grade 2, $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby and Skywire in the Grade 3, $200,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.

Although Dream Maker has perhaps the most potential of the trio, Skywire might also get a Derby chance if he performs well over Turfway’s synthetic Polytrack surface and later in a stakes race on dirt. He the 3-1 second favorite in the Jeff Ruby.

“He could end up in the Blue Grass,” Casse said, referring to the Grade 2, $1 million race at Keeneland on April 6, though the colt’s long-range goal is the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine on June 29.

First things first. Skywire, an Afleet Alex colt, is unbeaten in two starts and won an allowance by six lengths at Gulfstream on Feb. 13. He has to deliver in his stakes debut in the Jeff Ruby, which seems softer than prior renewals, when it was run under a variety of names, such as the Jim Beam and Spiral. Just two stakes winners are among the 11 horses entered in the 1 1/8-mile Jeff Ruby.

Those stakes winners, Five Star General and Somelikeithotbrown, appear to be Skywire’s most formidable adversaries. Five Star General, winner of the off-the-turf Central Park Stakes at Aqueduct last fall, is the 6-1 third choice, and Somelikeithotbrown, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf third-place finisher who won the Feb. 15 John Battaglia Memorial, is the 8-5 favorite on the morning line.

Somelikeithotbrown’s trainer, Mike Maker, said he was impressed by the colt’s win in the Battaglia.

“Obviously, with a class drop from the Breeders’ Cup, I would have been disappointed if the results had been any different,” he said.

Maker is a four-time winner of the Jeff Ruby, all in the track’s synthetic era. With a City was his first winner in 2006, followed by Dean’s Kitten in 2010, Oscar Nominated in 2016, and Fast and Accurate in 2017.

Tyler Gaffalione is in from his base at Gulfstream Park to ride Somelikeithotbrown, a New York-bred son of Big Brown owned by Skychai Racing and Sand Dollar Stable.

Five Star General is one of three Ruby competitors exiting the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 9. He ran sixth, between Ruby entrants Counter Offer (fourth) and Moonster (eighth).

Five Star General’s loss came with a troubled trip.

Hard held early while passing the stands for the first time, he raced wide around both turns and was steadied leaving the second of two turns. He then re-engaged once angled toward the inside for the stretch run, passing tired horses to advance from eighth to sixth over the final furlong.

Regardless of his troubled run, the defeat confirmed to trainer Arnaud Delacour what he long suspected: that Five Star General might not be skilled enough to match up with elite dirt 3-year-olds. “We always thought he was a turf, artificial kind of horse,” he said.

Jeff Ruby winners have twice won the Kentucky Derby: Lil E. Tee in 1992 and Animal Kingdom in 2011. For the second straight year, Saturday’s renewal offers 20 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner, down from 50 in earlier runnings.

Five supporting stakes complement the Jeff Ruby on Saturday at Turfway, and an all-stakes pick five begins with the seventh race, the $50,000 Latonia. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern, with the Jeff Ruby set for 6:37.

With construction ongoing at Turfway to make way for more than 300 slots-like historical-racing devices, targeted for completion in late June, track officials chose to provide free admission. Rain is forecasted, with a high of 55 degrees.