A dozen seek glory in the nine-furlong Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park on Saturday and $500,000 is on the line. Along with the solid purse, the winner of the Spiral Stakes will earn 50 points toward qualifying for the Kentucky Derby.
Of the twelve entered, five have won stakes and several will be making their first start on a synthetic surface.
From the rail out, Blueridge Traveler is speed challenged and will be at the mercy of how the race sets up and if he can find a lane to rally into in time. The Ken McPeek student just broke his maiden by a closing head with a 66 Beyer Speed Figure.
Soglio is trained by Graham Motion, who won the Spiral Stakes with Animal Kingdom and then watched that runner win the Kentucky Derby. Soglio has run six times, all on grass and he’s won once. This Turfway Park surface has been known to be kind to turf runners.
Fast and Accurate did something last time that is not simple to do. He broke his maiden at Turfway Park in a $30,000 maiden and then won a $60,000 grass stakes at Gulfstream. The Mike Maker trainee has some semblance of speed but it’s hard to see him making a clear lead.
Convict Pike got a feel of a synthetic surface last time when second at Ocala. He has trained fast for this Spiral Stakes and should sit a nice stalk and rally kind of a trip.
Colonel Samsen was in good form for about three weeks last year but he did win the $75,000 Gold Rush Stakes at Golden Gate on the synthetic surface.
Giant Payday will be looking for just that in the Spiral Stakes but he seems ambitiously placed. He graduated on grass for the only win and was a closing fifth in the Grade 3 Palm Beach at Gulfstream Park early this month. If he is going to win the Spiral Stakes, he will likely have to come from left field.
Shiraz is another trained by Maker and that conditioner is winning at a 34% clip at Turfway this meeting. This runner was already beaten by Convict Pike this year. Maker has also won the Spiral Stakes twice including last year with Oscar Nominated.
Kitten’s Cat is another that will be trying to transfer his turf form but he has won thrice and he should be in the first flight. He is coming off a fine try when second in the Palm Beach.
Parlor has been a bad actor at the gate but he has won two of his three races and the loss came by a neck.
Bronson is trained by Todd Pletcher, who first won the Spiral Stakes with Balto Star sixteen years ago. He will be looking for his fourth win in this event. This runner has a shot to at least be in the first flight. The pedigree is there also as he is a sibling to a pair of Grade 2 winners.
King and His Court tried McCraken last time in the Sam Davis Stakes but was super dull. The best thing he has going for him is the fact all three of his wins came on the synthetic at Woodbine. He won the $145,000 Display Stakes there in his 2016 finale.
En Hanse takes the worst of it from a post-position standpoint. He is yet another Maker runner and this one should make the lead. He flashed sub :45 speed winning the WEBN Stakes at Turfway last month and he got a feel of the synthetic route game last time.
This race seems ripe for an upset. The morning line is Kitten’s Cat at a tepid 4-1 and that shows just how open this race seems to be this year.
Back in the day when I was making the morning line for the Daily Racing Form and publishing my Graded selections every day, I had a personal tie breaker. If a race was close between two horses my usual tie breaker was speed. This tendency served me well then and it may serve me well in the Spiral Stakes. En Hanse is the speed of the speed. His post will not hurt him that much if he can break well and get over to the rail quickly. Two of his three wins have come on this local surface and although his sire Hansen was speed, four of Hansen’s five wins were routing.
Take a swing with the 15-1 shot En Hanse.
Dozen Seek Glory in Spiral Stakes
