Woodbine trainers JOSIE CARROLL and KEVIN ATTARD are going after Kentucky Derby (GI) points this Saturday, March 21 with their entrants CHAOS AGENT and TWO OUT HERO in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park.
Saturday also features a litany of rich stakes races at other tracks and Canadian horsepeople and horses are involved there, too. They include Anderson Farms and its new purchase Faber, Tom’s Magic, Luv Your Neighbor, Penny and Manfred Conrad’s Casson and Prince of Wales Stakes winner Runaway Again.
The Jeff Ruby, race 12 at Turfway on Saturday (post time 6:25 p.m.), offers 100-50-25-15-10 in Derby points for the top five finishers in the 1 1/8 mile race on Tapeta. And while the race is on the all-weather track and the Derby is on the dirt, there have been a few instances of horses running well in the Jeff Ruby and in the Derby. Those include Rich Strike, Two Phil’s and last year’s winner Full Gambit, who went on to be fourth in the Derby.
The Carroll barn is no doubt excited to see how the exciting Pin Oak Stud three-year-old Chaos Agent does in the $777,000 race off his debut win at Gulfstream on February 5. The son of Independence Hall was an impressive winner with an 83 Beyer Speed Figure in the 1 1/16 mile race on Tapeta. Joel Rosario will ride Chaos Agent in the Jeff Ruby.
Kevin Attard will try again with Two Out Hero, a good two-year-old at Woodbine last season who was plagued by a messy trip in his 2026 opener in the Battgalia Memorial at Turfway last month. The colt went back to Florida and worked a bullet furlong on the dirt at Pal Meadows.
***
At the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, the massive Louisiana Derby (G2) card includes graded stakes races with Canadian content.
The $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) at 1 1/16 miles brings back Ontario-bred LUV YOUR NEIGHBOR (Constitution) who will try and break her streak of four straight second-place finishes and win her first stakes race. Bred by Anderson Farms, Luv Your Neighbor wore blinkers for the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra last time, had the lead in deep stretch, but seemed to stall again and her rival Bella Ballerina beat her.
Speaking of Anderson Farms, David Anderson recently ‘bought back’ FABER (Improbable), a gelding who was third in the Prince of Wales and Breeders’ Stakes last year, from a Fasig-Tipton Digital sale last month. Faber was bred by Anderson and the gelding won his debut in 2024 and picked up several stakes placings before winning for the second time in his latest on grass at Fair Grounds. On Saturday, Faber will compete in the seven-horse Muniz Memorial Classic (G2) worth $300,000.
Among Faber’s rivals is the very good Canadian-bred TOM’S MAGIC, who won the Breeders’ Stakes and was second in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby last year. Bred by Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry, the Justify colt was recently second in the Tampa Bay Stakes (G3).
At Gulfstream Park, Conrad Farms’ CASSON will try the Texas Glitter Stakes at 5 furlongs on the turf in his season debut and Stronach Stables and David Jacobson’s Runaway Again starts in the Grade 3 $500,000 Essex Stakes at Oaklawn on Saturday.
More News
