Turfway Park winter-spring meet features 19 stakes
The Turfway Park holiday meet continues to unfold in a flurry of festive fervor but as the calendar turns, the winter-spring Meet will maintain high purses with a lucrative stakes schedule led by the Grade 3, $700,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks on March 23, a pivotal stop on the road to Kentucky Derby 2024.
During the 52-day stand, the winter-spring meet will showcase a total of 19 stakes races. The highlight is annually Jeff Ruby Steaks day, featuring six stakes contests, including the 53rd running of the 1 1/8-mile Jeff Ruby. Supporting stakes events on the card will be the $300,000 Kentucky Cup Classic; the $300,000 Bourbonette Oaks, a road to the Kentucky Oaks race; the $250,000 Animal Kingdom Stakes; the $250,000 Latonia Stakes, and the $250,000 Rushaway Stakes.
The road to the Kentucky Derby’s first stop at the Florence, Ky., oval will be three weeks earlier on Saturday, March 2, for the $150,000 John Battaglia Memorial. One day prior, fillies on the road to the Kentucky Oaks will be in action for the $150,000 Cincinnati Trophy Stakes.
Another spotlight race will be the 26th running of the $125,000 Likely Exchange Stakes on Jan. 13, which will mark the final opportunity in the “make your mare” series, in partnership with Claiborne Farm. The top three finishers of the race will receive $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 in credits toward a future stallion mating at the farm. The other two races in the series are the $125,000 Holiday Inaugural and the $125,000 My Charmer Stakes.
Similar to the holiday meet, racing will continue on a Wednesday-Saturday schedule with daily first posts of 5:55 p.m. EST, except Jeff Ruby Steaks day, which will start at 12:45 p.m.
| Date | Race name | Age | Distance | Purse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 6 | Turfway Preview | 3yo | 6 1/2F | $125,000 |
| January 13 | Likely Exchange | FM 4&up | 1M | $125,000 |
| January 20 | Leonatus Stakes | 3yo | 1M | $125,000 |
| January 27 | Wishing Well | FM 4&up | 6 1/2F | $125,000 |
| February 3 | Forego | 4yo and up | 6 1/2F | $125,000 |
| February 10 | Valdale | F 3yo | 6 1/2F | $125,000 |
| February 17 | Dust Commander | 4yo and up | 1 1/16M | $125,000 |
| February 24 | Wintergreen | FM 4&up | 1M | $125,000 |
| March 1 | Cincinnati Trophy | F 3yo | 1M | $150,000 |
| March 2 | John Battaglia Memorial | 3yo | 1 1/16M | $150,000 |
| March 9 | Richard S. Leigh Memorial | 4yo and up | 6F | $125,000 |
| March 16 | Queen | FM 4&up | 6F | $125,000 |
| March 23 | Latonia | FM 4&up | 1 1/16M | $250,000 |
| March 23 | Kentucky Cup Classic | 4yo and up | 1 1/8M | $300,000 |
| March 23 | Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) | 3yo | 1 1/8M | $700,000 |
| March 23 | Rushaway | 3yo | 1 1/16M | $250,000 |
| March 23 | Bourbonette Oaks | F 3yo | 1 1/16M | $300,000 |
| March 23 | Animal Kingdom | 3yo | 6F | $250,000 |
| March 30 | Serena's Song | F 3yo | 6F | $125,000 |