Hawaiian Noises ready to roar

Before the six-figure stakes races begin Saturday at Turfway Park with the $100,000 Kentucky Cup Classic, the $100,000 Bourbonette and the $200,000 Jeff Ruby, three secondary stakes ranging in value from $50,000 to $75,000 will serve as warm-ups.

Up first among the stakes as the sixth race is the $50,000 Animal Kingdom, named in honor of the 2011 Kentucky Derby winner who won the Jeff Ruby when it was called the Spiral. A field of eight 3-yearolds, led by Hawaiian Noises and comebacking Armistice Day, has entered to race 6 1/2 furlongs.

Both horses have synthetic experience, with Hawaiian Noises having won an allowance at Turfway in December after winning a maiden race at Keeneland on dirt, and Armistice Day having competed over the Tapeta surface at Woodbine last July. Armistice Day has not raced since.

Armistice Day shows no published works in his past performances, having trained off track at trainer Tommy Drury’s Skylight Training Center base, but he is expected to be ready. Horses returning for Drury following breaks of 180 days or longer have won 10 of 49 starts over the last five years (20 percent winners, $2.01 ROI), according to Daily Racing Form’s Formulator.

Hawaiian Noises, trained by Wesley Ward, has a highprofile jockey aboard: Southern California-based Rafael Bejarano, a leading rider at Turfway during the early part of his career.

A race later, a full field of 12 fillies and mares is entered in the $75,000, one-mile Latonia.

Foremost among the entries is Princess Warrior, winner of the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere Stakes at Churchill Downs on Nov. 23. Out of action since a sixth in the Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita on Dec. 29, she kicks off her 4-year-old campaign in the Latonia after training steadily over the past month at Payson Park for trainer Kenny McPeek.

If Princess Warrior returns in need of a race or falters over Turfway’s Polytrack surface, over which she has no experience, Eqho and Silent Sonet could prove dangerous as proven synthetic performers.

Turfway racing then returns to 3-year-olds for the $75,000 DRF Bets Rushaway at 1 1/16 miles, where Federal Law, Faraway Kitten, and Onthewaytonevrland are top contenders.

These stakes and others Saturday are linked together in several multi-race wagers at Turfway. An all-stakes Pick 5 starts with the Latonia, the seventh race, and two all-stakes Pick 4s are also on tap, one beginning with the Animal Kingdom and another with the Rushaway.