By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
A full field of three-year-olds is set to go postward for Saturday’s $500,000 Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes (G3) at Turfway Park in Florence.
Post positions were drawn at a luncheon at Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati today and John C. Oxley’s Airoforce was installed as the 3-1 favorite.
The Spiral Stakes, is a major Kentucky Derby prep race and the 50 points awarded to the winner virtually guarantees a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May.
Airoforce, trained by Mark Casse, won the grade 3 Bourbon at Keeneland last year and generated a lot of early Kentucky Derby buzz. He encountered trouble and finished up the track in the Grade 2 Risen Star at the Fairgrounds in Louisiana, the colt’s first start as a 3-year-old.
Turfway Park oddsmaker Bret Battaglia said the line was tough to set with so many talented horses in the field of 12, with two also-eligibles.
It’s a pretty-wide open field and I thought Airoforce was going to be a shorter price, but I just couldn’t manage it,” Battaglia said. “There is some separation, but I’ve got several horses below 10-1 and even some with higher odds, I think have a chance to win.”
Other notables in the field include Jensen (6-1) trained by Larry Jones, which won a $50,000 optional claiming race at the Fairgrounds in his most recent start and Ralis (6-1), which took the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga last year.
Surgical Strike, winner of Turfway’s Spiral prep the John Battaglia Memorial is 12-1, and Azar which narrowly missed in the Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont Park last year is 5-1.
The field for Saturday’s Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes, by post position, with morning line odds:
- That Makes Sense 30-1
- Surgical Strike 12-1
- Jensen 6-1
- Don’t Be So Salty 8-1
- Oscar Nominated 10-1
- Two Step Time 15-1
- Strike Up the Band 20-1
- Kasseopia 6-1
- Swagger Jagger 20-1
- Airoforce 3-1
- Ralis 6-1
- Azar 5-1
- Crescent Drive (AE)
- Diplodocus (AE)
The Turfway Park Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Stakes highlights a 12-race card that also includes the $100,000 Bourbonette Oaks for three-year-old fillies, a prep race for the Kentucky Oaks, and the Rushaway Stakes.
Mark Hansel is managing editor of the Northern Kentucky Tribune. Contact him at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com