Each year, the Road to the Kentucky Derby acts as a showcase for how quickly a young 3-year-old can develop. That rang true again March 22 when Final Gambit , off his maiden victory, unleashed a devastating turn of foot in the stretch to win the $776,364 Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at Turfway Park.
The gray or roan colt began his career with three consecutive one-mile races, his latest being a last-to-first maiden-breaking score at Turfway Feb. 15 by 2 1/4 lengths. Off that performance, trainer Brad Cox came to owner Juddmonte with the plan to run him in the Jeff Ruby, citing the 1 1/8-mile distance being beneficial.
“He’s a horse that was pretty immature from the beginning so we just developed him slowly,” said Cox’s Turfway assistant Tessa Walden. “He’s continuously shown the ability to step up, we thought it was a good time to try it.”
With regular rider Luan Machado in the saddle, the colt again found himself last entering the first turn as Charlie’s to Blame and Innovator raced off to set a quick opening quarter in :22.97 before posting following fractions of :47.91 and 1:12.84.
Machado said he wasn’t expecting to be as far back as he was, but the horse gave him every indication that he’d make up the ground when called upon. To find somewhere to run, Machado swung out widest of all entering the stretch.
“As soon as I started asking him they started coming back to me very fast,” Machado said. “Then I was in a situation where I couldn’t go out anymore. I had to wait to try and go through. They accelerated a little bit after the three-eighths and that helped me out a bit to get my way through and go out.”
Once in the lane, Final Gambit’s move was too powerful to overcome. He rushed to the lead outside the sixteenth pole and called checkmate as he pulled away to win by 3 1/2 lengths. He stopped the clock in 1:50.10 and paid $32.14 to win.
Jockey Luan Machado celebrates Final Gambit’s Jeff Ruby Steaks victory
“I was blown away by the kick,” said Juddmonte USA general manager Garrett O’Rourke. “It was very impressive.”
Flying Mohawk , who also raced near the back of the pack, rallied up for second while Maximum Promise finished third. Last year’s Remsen Stakes (G2) winner Poster , the 9-5 favorite, completed the superfecta.
The Jeff Ruby offered Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale to the top five finishers, meaning both Final Gambit and Flying Mohawk have clinched a spot in the starting gate should they choose to take it. Neither horse has raced on dirt, with Final Gambit debuting on turf before two synthetic starts prior to the Ruby. Flying Mohawk had raced exclusively on turf in five prior starts.
“We’re going to let things settle a little bit and have some discussions about it because I do think we have one of the best turf 3-year-olds,” said Whit Beckman, who trains Flying Mohawk for Two Eight Racing, Berry Family Racing, and Kaleta Racing.
“I don’t think (the dirt) will be an issue for him,” Walden said about Final Gambit. “He has the maturity now to handle something different.”
The jury is also still out on whether Final Gambit will run in the Derby, according to O’Rourke.
Connections celebrate Final Gambit’s win in the Jeff Ruby Steaks
“Everything is on the table at the moment, there’s an awful lot of discussions to be made,” O’Rourke said. “The horse ultimately answers the questions with how he trains. Trainers like Brad have a feel for what the horses can and can’t do. We’ll let the professionals make those decisions. Obviously, we’ll talk to the owners as well and see what they want to do. Today is a huge step up from what he’s done and where he’s going to go to in the future.”
If he can handle the dirt, the distance should be no problem. The homebred for Juddmonte is by Taylor Made Stallions’ top sire Not This Time out of the Tapit mare Pachinko . Pachinko won once in nine starts in a career that spanned between Europe and Kentucky.
“Not This Time is an up-and-coming stallion who’s shown he can upgrade his mares quite a bit,” O’Rourke said. “(Final Gambit) is out of a Tapit mare as well which gives him the stamina. A bit of speed probably from Not This Time, the stamina coming from (Tapit), and a little bit of class coming from the Juddmonte families. That was a winning formula today.”
Machado said he was confident that Final Gambit could handle both the surface and the distance.
“He lost a lot of ground even though I tried not to. I believe that (the Kentucky Derby’s 1 1/4 miles) is not going to be a problem,” Machado said. “I will have to get on him (in the morning) and see (how he handles dirt). I don’t see a reason for him not to like it.”
