Jeff Ruby Steaks Betting: A solid field of 12 3-year-olds, whose connections have their sights set on the first Saturday in May, is expected to head postward in Saturday’s second running of the $250,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at Turfway Park.
The Kentucky Derby (GI) prep race known previously as the Spiral Stakes, Jim Beam Stakes, Lane’s End Stakes and once the Galleryfurniture.com Stakes is a nine-furlong synthetic track event first contested in 1972.
Jeff Ruby Steaks Betting: Road To The Derby Points
The Jeff Ruby Steaks offers Road to the Derby points of 20-8-4-2 to the top-four finishers.
Jeff Ruby’s restaurants/steakhouses, with locations in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, have been a big supporter of horse racing for years and fans can frequently see the eatery’s logo on the pants of many jockeys, including Hall of Famer Mike Smith, Joe Talamo and Drayden Van Dyke, to name a trio. This is the third year Jeff Ruby is the title sponsor of the race.
Horse Racing – Photo courtesy of Ernie Belmonte
This Derby prep is probably best known because of champion Animal Kingdom, who captured the nine-furlong synthetic test as a springboard to wearing the roses in 2011, but that’s not to say some other good horses haven’t emerged victorious as part of their tremendous careers.
Hard Spun, who placed in all three Triple Crown races, won in 2007 and added his name to a list that includes dual classic winners Hansel and Prairie Bayou, and Derby winner Lil E Tee. The Hall of Fame filly Serena’s Song was victorious in 1995, as well.
Blended Citizen upset the field two years ago and then won the Peter Pan (G2) after skipping the Derby and is still racing, having won the Louisiana Stakes (G3) at Fair Grounds two months ago.
Last year, Somelikeithotbrown gave trainer Mike Maker his fifth win in the race and was later sidelined for the 2019 after a fourth in the Blue Grass (G2) in early April. Now, he’s back in action at Turfway and most recently won an allowance race last month.
Champion Hansel still owns the stakes record (at the current distance) of 1:46 3/5, though the race has been contested at a mile and 1 1/16 miles in the past.
Retired Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day owns the record of most wins (five), having booted home At The Threshold (1984), J.T.’s Pet (1987), Western Playboy (1990), Summer Squall (1991) and Lil E. Tee (1992). The latter was his only Kentucky Derby winner of his 8,404 career victories.
William E. Adams saddled seven winners from 1977 through 1980, including the winners of both divisions in 1977 (Smiley’s Dream and Bob’s Dusty), 1978 (Five Star General and Raymond Earl) and 1980 (Major Run and Spruce Needles). He also saddled Lot o’Gold to win in 1979.
Saturday’s weather in Northern Kentucky is expected cool and wet with rain showers likely and a high hovering near 40. Since the main track is made of Polytrack, the only effect the weather will have will likely be on the patrons should they brave the COVID-19 threat.
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California native and lifelong horsewoman Margaret Ransom is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program. She got her start in racing working in the publicity departments at Calder Race Course and Hialeah Park, as well as in the racing office at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. She then spent six years in Lexington, KY, at BRISnet.com, where she helped create and develop the company’s popular newsletters: Handicapper’s Edge and Bloodstock Journal.
After returning to California, she served six years as the Southern California news correspondent for BloodHorse, assisted in the publicity department at Santa Anita Park and was a contributor to many other racing publications, including HorsePlayer Magazine and Trainer Magazine. She then spent seven years at HRTV and HRTV.com in various roles as researcher, programming assistant, producer and social media and marketing manager.
She has also walked hots and groomed runners, worked the elite sales in Kentucky for top-class consignors and volunteers for several racehorse retirement organizations, including CARMA.
In 2016, Margaret was the recipient of the prestigious Stanley Bergstein Writing Award, sponsored by Team Valor, and was an Eclipse Award honorable mention for her story, “The Shocking Untold Story of Maria Borell,” which appeared on USRacing.com. The article and subsequent stories helped save 43 abandoned and neglected Thoroughbreds in Kentucky and also helped create a new animal welfare law known as the “Borell Law.”
Margaret’s very first Breeders’ Cup was at Hollywood Park in 1984 and she has attended more than half of the Breeders’ Cups since. She counts Holy Bull and Arrogate as her favorite horses of all time. She lives in Pasadena with her longtime beau, Tony, two Australian Shepherds and one Golden Retriever.