Twelve Horses Set for $777,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park

Amerman Racing's Stark Contrast ships in from Southern California carrying a perfect record on turf and a significant question mark: he has never run on synthetic footing. Saturday's 55th running of the $777,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park will answer that question in front of 11 rivals, with 100 Kentucky Derby qualifying points and a guaranteed starting gate spot for the May 2 Churchill Downs classic on the line.

The Grade 3 event goes as Race 12 on a 13-race card, with a 6:25 p.m. ET post time. Trainer Michael McCarthy has pointed Stark Contrast toward the 1 1/8-mile Tapeta test after the colt won the Zuma Beach Stakes by a length and the Eddie Logan at Santa Anita by 2 1/4 lengths, all three career victories coming on grass. McCarthy knows the race well: he won the Jeff Ruby Steaks two years ago with Endlessly, who is entered earlier on the same card in the $300,000 TwinSpires Kentucky Cup Classic.

The field around Stark Contrast is credentialed. Brad Cox sends out two horses: Grade I winner Argos, owned by David Romanik, Warren Cheekes, Deborah Dougherty, C2 Racing Stable, BAG Racing Stable and Robert Liedel; and multiple stakes-placed Fulleffort, a runner for St. Elias Stable and Starlight Racing. Gold Square's Two Out Hero, a stakes winner who has already run in Grade I company, also enters the picture.

Calumet Farm's Black Hornet arrives off a momentum-building effort, having won the Black Gold Stakes at Fair Grounds by 1 1/4 lengths at 7-1 odds last month. Declan Cannon keeps the mount from post 5. Stop the Car, the Maximum Security colt owned by Tradewinds Farm, had been pointed toward the John Battaglia Memorial before a minor setback forced a scratch from that race. He still lines up here with Edgar Morales from post 12, bringing a resume that includes a debut victory in a $150,000 maiden claimer at Keeneland and a first-level allowance score at Churchill Downs, though he was a lackluster seventh in the Lecomte at Fair Grounds in January.

McCarthy also trains La Ville Lumiere, owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Sabby Racing and Ken Reimer, who ships from Santa Anita as a two-time winner. Her lone stakes score came in the Blue Norther as a 2-year-old, following third-place finishes in both the Oak Leaf and Jimmy Durante. Lovely Grey, a private purchase for Dave Portnoy's Go Go Greys Stable and trained by Kelsey Danner, ran second in the Cincinnati Trophy, finishing 2 3/4 lengths behind Resplendence. Joel Rosario rides from post 9.

The Jeff Ruby Steaks serves as the centerpiece of a rich stakes card that begins at 12:45 p.m. ET. Supporting races include the $300,000 Bourbonette Oaks, the $250,000 Latonia, the $250,000 Animal Kingdom and the $250,000 Rushaway. The top five finishers in the Jeff Ruby will earn Derby qualifying points on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale, with the winner collecting enough points to effectively punch a ticket to the starting gate for Kentucky Derby 152.