Jeff Ruby Steaks: Six Horses at 5-1 or 6-1

Compact Morning Line in 12-Horse Field

Oddsmaker Mike Battaglia has made Todd Pletcher’s Hazit and Mark Casse’s Ride a Comet 5-1 morning line co-favorites for the Jeff Ruby Steaks, set to run Saturday at Turfway Park.

Owner John Oxley purchased Ride a Comet out of the Ocala Breeders’ Sale of 2-year-olds in training last April for $375,000. The Candy Ride colt broke his maiden in the fourth of his five starts, a 1 1/16-mile test at Fair Grounds that was taken off the turf. He won his next and most recent outing as well, about a mile on the turf, also at Fair Grounds.

"He's doing extremely well right now,” said Casse. “We bought him off the OBS sale and that's a synthetic track and he seemed to love it, so we decided to bring him here. He broke his maiden on dirt, but his turf win last out would also suggest he will take to a synthetic track.”

A couple of defections among those expected to enter the race put Ride a Comet in the gate, and he drew post 11 in the field of 12.

“It’s a little further outside than I would've liked, but it's better than the AEs,” Casse said. “He's a pretty good horse and we'll play the hand that was dealt to us.”

Hazit broke his maiden on debut at Saratoga in August and stepped immediately into grade 1 company, finishing off the board in both the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. After a 3 1/2-month layoff, he made his first start this year in an optional allowance at Tampa Bay, setting the pace before settling for second, beaten just a length.

Battaglia set a compact morning line for the Jeff Ruby Steaks, with four horses at 6-1, four at 12-1 and two at 15-1 behind the co-favorites. All contenders will carry 123 pounds. The Jeff Ruby Steaks field from the rail out, with jockey assignments and morning line:

Post	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	ML
1	Sky Promise	Kenneth McPeek	Jack Gilligan	12-1
2	Cash Call Kitten	Michael Maker	Tyler Gaffalione	12-1
3	Archaggelos	Michael Dickinson	Rafael Hernandez	6-1
4	Pony Up	Todd Pletcher	Albin Jimenez	6-1
5	Magicalmeister	James Chapman	John McKee	12-1
6	Mugaritz	Jonathan Wong	Nik Juarez	6-1
7	Hazit	Todd Pletcher	Drayden Van Dyke	5-1
8	Blended Citizen	Doug O’Neill	Kyle Frey	6-1
9	Dreamer’s Point	Ian Wilkes	Chris Landeros	15-1
10	Zanesville	Thomas Amoss	Malcolm Franklin	12-1
11	Ride a Comet	Mark Casse	Gabriel Saez	5-1
12	Arawak	Wesley Ward	Julio Garcia	15-1

Saturday’s card offers an all-stakes Pick 5 on the sixth race and an all-stakes Pick 4 on the seventh race. The first of 12 races on Saturday’s card is set for 1:10 p.m. ET.

Edited Turfway Park release