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 March 23, $700,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks (Grade III), a pivotal stop on the Road to Kentucky Derby 150.
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, including the 53rd running of the 1 1/8-mile Jeff Ruby Steaks. Supporting stakes events on the card will be the $300,000 TwinSpires Ky Cup Classic (Listed); the $300,000 Bourbonette Oaks, a Road to the Kentucky Oaks Championship Series 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 oval will be three weeks earlier on Saturday, March 2, for the $150,000 John Battaglia Memorial (Listed). 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 Jan. 13, $125,000 Likely Exchange Stakes, which will mark the final opportunity in the "Make Your Mare" series, in partnership with Claiborne Farm. The top three finishers 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.
Similar to the Holiday Meet, racing will continue on a Wednesday-Saturday schedule with daily first posts of 5:55 p.m. (all times Eastern), except Jeff Ruby Steaks Day, which will start at 12:45.
Reservations and more information about live racing and gaming from Turfway Park can be found on www.Turfway.com.
