Turfway Park: Banks headlines 8-horse field for Leonatus

Impressive allowance winner Banks will make his stakes debut against seven other 3-year-olds Saturday at Turfway Park in the 35th running of the $125,000 Leonatus Stakes, the first step on the road to the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks.

The one-mile contest on the Tapeta synthetic surface is carded as the sixth of 10 races with a post time of 8:25 p.m. EST and a first post of 5:55. The Leonatus Stakes serves as the local prep for the John Battaglia Memorial on Feb. 22, a points prep for Kentucky Derby 2025. It also leads to the March 22 Jeff Ruby, a win-and-you’re-in qualifier for the Derby.

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Owned by Tom Lambro and trained by Joe Sharp, Banks has excelled at Turfway, breaking his maiden Dec. 5 in a restricted, maiden special weight. He returned three weeks later to defeat nine rivals in a first-level allowance contest. The gelded son of Outwork will be ridden by Adam Beschizza from post 4.

Among Banks’s seven rivals is undefeated Church and State, who is owned by Centennial Farms-Niagara and trained by Dale Desruisseaux. The son of Caravaggio is 2-for-2 in Canada with victories in a Nov. 15 maiden special weight and a Dec. 6 first-level allowance. Jockey Rafael Hernández, who guided him in both Canada victories, retains the mount from post 7.