Endlessly is all alone at the finish in the Grade 3 $700,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park. (Coady Photography)
Endlessly made quick work of the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks field, thundering home a powerful four-length winner of the $700,000 feature race of the Turfway Park meet on March 23.
After the Jeff Ruby, trainer Michael McCarthy reported Endlessly would indeed be in the starting gate that first Saturday in May, but not in the race one would expect after his 100-point win on the Road to the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve.
"We're looking at the American Turf (Stakes)," McCarthy said. The Grade 2 American Turf Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-olds, will be run May 4 on the Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill Downs.
Endlessly, a son of Oscar Performance bred and owned by Amerman Racing, is unraced on the dirt but is nearly undefeated on turf and all-weather surfaces. He opened his sophomore campaign last month with an authoritative win in Golden Gate Fields' El Camino Real Derby in his first spin over a synthetic surface, earning an automatic berth to the Preakness Stakes in the process.
While Endlessly will not be participating in the run for the roses, trainer Larry Demeritte declared Jeff Ruby runner-up West Saratoga was a definitive starter for the Derby. West Saratoga won a five-way place photo to finish second and picked up 50 Derby qualifying points, pushing him into fourth place on the Derby leaderboard with 67 points.