State of Play to against a similar lineup in the Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes
The winner of the Grade 2 With Anticipation Stakes last year at Saratoga, State of Play, bounced back from his seventh place finish in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in his seasonal debut, and atoned for his defeat by winning the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway Park’s synthetic surface on 3 March, 2012.
Trained by Graham Motion for Team Valor International, State of Play will be looking to enhance his graded stakes earnings by taking a shot in the Grade 3, $500,000 Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes at about 1 1/8 miles on 24 March, 2012, over at Turfway Park’s synthetic surface.
The $300,000 winner’s share would be enough to be eligible for the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, as another of Team Valor International’s Animal Kingdom showed last year by winning the Spiral Stakes and then going on to win the Kentucky Derby.
The Turfway Park’s signature race has reeled a full field, as trainers solidify plans for their Kentucky Derby hopefuls, because a win in the Spiral Stakes guarantees a horse a spot in the Kentucky Derby.
The runner up of the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes, Ill Conceived will also start in the Grade 3 Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes, along with the fourth place finisher of the race, Mr. Prankster.
The 3-year-old John Servis trained colt, Ill Conceived came real close to winning the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes, but was nosed out in the last stride by State of Play in the 1 1/16 mile event.
“I was very happy with the race,” Servis told Turfway officials. “He was getting out a little bit on the turn, lost the lead through the stretch, and battled back very gamely to just miss. It was so close. I actually thought he won the race until I saw the photo.
“For a young horse to do that, I was very happy.”
“He’s better coming from off the pace,” Servis said. “However, he was very sharp coming in to that last race and there wasn’t a lot of pace. That’s one of the reasons he started getting out because (Elliott) cranked him down so much. I don’t expect him to be in front in this race.”
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