Friday night under the lights at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky, will be a big draw for Canadian racing fans as the early Queen’s Plate favourite GRETZKY THE GREAT gets his 3-year-old season underway in the $100,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes.
The Gary Barber and Eclipse Thoroughbreds colt, bred by Anderson Farms in St. Thomas, Ontario, has drawn post 1 in a 12 horse field (one also eligible) going 1 1/16 miles on the all-weather surface. Post time is 8:16 p.m.
Gretzky the Great has the highest single Beyer Speed Figure in the field of 82, earned when he won the Grade 1 Summer Stakes on the grass last fall at Woodbine. He won his maiden on Tapeta at Woodbine at six furlongs and this will be his second attempt at a two-turn distance following his sixth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) last year at Keeneland.