Kentucky Derby is a maybe for Stark Contrast with Ruby win

Stark Contrast fits the well-hewn profile of a West Coast turf horse shipping east to be the favorite for a Midwest race on a synthetic surface.

“Rightfully so,” trainer Michael McCarthy said Friday. “I think, even though we’re drawn wide, we should find ourselves in a forward position.”

The complications of air travel permitting, McCarthy will be at Turfway Park on Saturday evening to saddle Stark Contrast and give a leg up to jockey Kazushi Kimura for the Grade 3, $777,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks, the first major prep for Kentucky Derby 2026. Stark Contrast drew post 11 in the field of 12 for the 1 1/8-mile race.

DeRosa: Fair odds for Jeff Ruby at Turfway Park.

The winner gets 100 qualifying points to clinch a berth in the Derby. Second place is worth 50 points, which should be enough to earn the run for the roses May 2.

“I haven’t even thought about that yet,” McCarthy said in a phone interview from California. “I would like to win the Jeff Ruby first and then figure it out from there. After we run (Saturday), we’ll map out a plan.”

Making the move from turf to Tapeta is not as much of a reach as going from grass to dirt or vice-versa. After finishing a distant fourth in his six-furlong debut last summer on Del Mar’s main track, Stark Contrast was switched to the turf. That led to a maiden-breaking victory and then a pair of stakes wins sandwiched around a surprising second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

“He trained well enough over the summer to warrant a start on the turf,” McCarthy said. “Whether it was immaturity, class or inexperience, he just did not show up (on debut) as I thought he would. He did not seem to run to his training.”

Jerry Amerman’s homebred colt has bloodlines that gave McCarthy confidence in trying the turf. Stark Contrast’s sire Caravaggio was a two-time Group 1 winner in Europe for Coolmore and trainer Aidan O’Brien. His dam Catch the Eye is by Quality Road, who has produced 17 Grade 1 winners from two crops of racing age.

“Being by Caravaggio, I thought that would give some speed and obviously an affinity for the grass,” McCarthy said. “Quality Road, one of the best sires of our generation, is liable to get you any kind of a horse on any surface. I thought that would provide some stamina for us, so that’s how we went the turf route.”

When it comes to perception among horseplayers, Stark Contrast is aptly named. His maiden win at Del Mar came at odds of 7-2. He was the 3-1 third choice in a field of five for his off-the-pace victory Oct. 5 in the Zuma Beach Stakes (G3) going a mile on the turf at Santa Anita.

Those bona fides did not command any respect in the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, where Stark Contrast was the longest shot in the field of 14 for the one-mile Juvenile Turf.

“I’m not sure exactly how they came up with 60-1,” McCarthy said. “I thought he was good enough to win.”

He nearly did. Stark Contrast had 58-1 win odds, and even though Kimura had no gap at the top of the stretch, he still came within three-quarters of a length of beating O’Brien’s 6-5 favorite Gstaad. Two-dollar place and show bettors were rewarded with payouts of $28.60 and $14.80, and the $1 exacta paid $80.

“He ran a bang-up race that day,” McCarthy said. “He found himself in a little bit of traffic trouble coming to the quarter pole, but once he shook free, he put in a big run through the lane.”

Stark Contrast made his 3-year-old debut Jan. 8 as the 3-10 favorite in the $100,000 Eddie Logan. McCarthy’s plan was to come back Feb. 22 in the $100,000 Pasadena over the same mile of Santa Anita turf, but a minor injury interceded.

“He had a foot bruise that kept him from participating,” McCarthy said. “It was unfortunate that we missed the Pasadena, but had we run in the Pasadena, I’m not sure we would have shown up in the Jeff Ruby.”

Stark Contrast arrived in Florence, Ky., early this week and trained over the Turfway Tapeta under the watch of assistant trainer Justin Curran and other members of McCarthy’s stable team.

“He seems to have gotten over the track fine,” McCarthy said. “Hopefully he takes to the surface and we have a bunch of options open up for us in the spring.”

The Jeff Ruby distance is a furlong more than Stark Contrast has raced before. The $170,000 he earned for finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup would be eclipsed by $446,000 in first-place money Saturday.

Those givens are balanced by the questions about where this race will take Stark Contrast.

“This is kind of a fork in the road,” McCarthy said. “This race presented itself here, so we thought we’d take a shot with the big purse and see where it takes us here.”