Ruby Stakes (Grade 3) (KYD)- $700.000 Purse
TP- For Three Year Olds
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
March 25, 2023

You know the KYD is getting closer when we get into the 100-point races. The Grade 3 Ruby Stakes is one of two races on Saturday that will offer that many points, so the over KYD qualifying picture may begin to see a shakeup. If we look at that right now, we see Mb Stables really flexing his muscles, having six of the first eight in the overall standings. Considering that he can only have three in the field, the overall picture doing into these final five weeks before the KYD may be a little more open than it seems to be right now. In the Ruby Stakes, Mb Stables will be fielding three horses of the thirteen horses that are going to post and none of them are part of that group of six of eight on top of the leaderboard. The Ruby Stake has seen some well-known past winners, including Fusion and Ginger Haggis. In 2022, Thunder Gultch cross the finish line first, scoring a win for Broken Spoke Stables. That one would go on to finish third in the KYD but has tailed off since then. He remains active but has not been on the track for either a race or a work since November. It’s time now to see who will be vying for those 100 points!

#1- Nygard (South Shore Stables, ridden by Mario Gutierrez)- Makes his debut with South Shore Stables after lasting three races with Tockyocky. As a two-year-old, this one was certainly on the radar for KYD contention, but after sputtering in the Best Pal Stakes in August, he never regained his form at that level. Dropping him in class helped, but now with his new trainer, Nygard is getting a chance to remind everyone of that potential he had displayed a while ago. He still seems to be a longshot at this point, but South Shore has been patient since adding him for $40.000.

#2- Sinamaulu (Arindel, ridden by J C Ferrer)- Hanamaulu has produced another good one, but this time did not need to hook up with Shark Force in order to do so. Sinamaulu is her third foal that has competed at this level, and he is sired by Sinissippi Rubicon. He’s not there yet, though, and has never run in a graded stake before. He’s been in three ungraded stakes with a near miss second place effort his best result. When you see the pedigree on this one, you can understand why Arindel will take the shot here as we run closer to the KYD. If he doesn’t step up here, don’t forget him later in the year.

#3- The Alchemist (Nakamura Stables, ridden by P Husbands)- This one had some good moments as a two-year-old, none being better than last October when he won the Grade 3 Street Sense. Unfortunately for the trainer, The Alchemist has simply not been able to build on that. He’s only made two starts since then and in neither of them was he a contender at the end. It’s been two months since then, so maybe that will really help him out. His work times are certainly not bad, but at the same time, seem a couple ticks slower than many of the others here.

#4- Martinez (Royalty Stables, ridden by Ru Silvera)- At AQU last month, Martinez impressively came from well off the pace to break his maiden and earn a 92 SRF. He comes here off of that in a late push to get into the KYD as there’s no time to get another race into see if you join the KYD race. A promising work at PRX last week should also generate excitement. We’ll always have a few of these late comers find their way into the KYD field, so maybe Martinez will be the next to do so.

#5- Mamba (Mb Stables, ridden by S Elliott)- We get to the first horse in this field that has already earned points on the KYD leaderboard. Right now, Mamba is only the 7th highest earner from Mb Stables with KYD points, but don’t feel sorry for this horse, because he’s still 15th overall. We get into this every year: the choice that Mb must ultimately make as to which three are his best for CD on the first Saturday in May. Mamba might be doing enough to get into the field from any other stable, but probably has to be at least top two here to convince Mb that he should pick him.

#6- Vince The Prince (Riggins Racing, ridden by M E Smith)- Picked by Riggins a little more than a month ago in private sales for $400.000 and this will be his first race since. That’s showing a lot of confidence in a horse that really has not been on the trail all that much. He did run in the Jerome in January, but that’s about all that can be said about that race. Dropped into a NY-bred N1X allowance after that and ran second prior to being sold. Had a solid work here on the 10th, and it will be up to Riggins to make him a lot better than he was in the Jerome.

#7- Details Matter (Alydar Stables, ridden by A Jimenez)- In five starts, Details Matter has managed three wins, so we know that he can find his way to the winner’s circle. Those are all in overnights, and two of them came on the grass. He’ll have a future on the turf, but this time of year, you have to take your chances on the main track if you think it is there. Details Matter did try the Sham Stakes but turned in a dismal effort. Will need to be dramatically better than that this time.

#8- Censored (Mb Stables, ridden by E Jaramillo)- Sure, you can say that Mb Stables really doesn’t need to develop another one of the TC Chase, but it can also be about winning a race with a nice $700.000 purse associated with it. Censored comes here off of breaking his maiden just three weeks ago down at GP. That was his third start, and he earned a 92 SRF while drawing away from the field in a three-length rout. Gradually getting better, so we’ll be seeing a lot more of him in the future, but just maybe Censored can convince Mb to let him run in the KYD by winning here.

#9- Duke Of Satire (Nakamura Stables, ridden by A Ayuso)- For a good portion of his career, Duke Of Satire ran on the turf, and would finish second in the always difficult Grade 1 Summer Stakes at WO. Ultimately, he would get into the BC Juvenile Turf, and ran second in that race as well. To start his three-year-old season, Duke Of Satire was moved to the dirt and fared well in the Lecomte Stakes, giving him 8 KYD points. Ran poorly in the Risen Star last month, so let’s hope that’s just a throw out. I feel a lot better about him than I do Nakamura’s other entry.

#10- Pink Shark- Scratched

#11- Bahamut (Ashwood Farms, ridden by M Murrill)- Didn’t show much in his first two races, and quietly went in the September 2022 auction for just $5.010. Man, have things changed for him, but it took a four-length win at PEN before even Ashwood Farms had confidence to bring him along more. Since the auction, he’s won three of four, including successfully moving from PEN to a CD N2L allowance a month later. Last month, he added a stake win to his resume by capturing the $100.000 Hedeman Mile for NM-breds at SUN. Now, we’ll see if he can make yet another move forward here.

#12- Lunar Victory (Fractious, ridden by Jam Rodriguez)- It was Fractious that led Bahamut get away cheaply, but he still has plenty of talent in his stable. Lunar Victory is one of them and sits 41st on the KYD leaderboard right now with 10 points. That can be helpful to build upon here as these 100 races pick up. He comes here off of a fourth-place finish in the Risen Star at FG, which was a much-improved effort after a couple of subpar outings right before it at the graded level though both were on off tracks. A lot can happen in four days, but as I write this, there is an 81% chance of isolated showers at TP on Saturday.

#13- Frenchman- Scratched

#14- Tough Customer (Mb Stables, ridden by M Franco)- In late October, Tough Customer looked good in winning the $200.000 Sleepy Hollow, completing a run of three straight top two finishes in stakes for NY-breds. Since then, this horse has struggled, finishing no better than seventh in his next three races. One of them had similar conditions to where he was running well, then the next two were graded races. He’s used a tactic of coming from off the pace in those races, but seemed better previously when he was closer to the lead. Perhaps, we’ll see an adjustment there, because this horse needs something to find his way again.

#15- Brother Bear (Rampage Stable, ridden by J L Ortiz)- Brother Bear gets into the field thanks to a couple of scratches, and now the gelding will need to make the most of this opportunity. A work at SA on February 23 shows that he is every bit as capable as anyone here, but he simply does not have the resume to back him up. That’s not a requirement, and we have seen horses like this steal the show before. In four starts, he has one win, and was second in his last start: an allowance at SA.

Prediction: 5-2-9-15

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES