One of the best betting races of the upcoming weekend will be held Saturday night at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., where a field of 12 fillies and mares ages 3 and older (plus one also-eligible) will square off in the $125,000 Queen Stakes. The six-furlong sprint held on Turfway’s all-weather Tapeta Footings surface brings back the top three finishers from a similar stakes race at Turfway, the Wishing Well Stakes on Jan. 27: # 6 B G Warrior, #10 Baby No Worries, and #9 Ravella.

Additionally, two mares will be making their first starts at Turfway after previously being based in California, #8 Princess Adaleigh and #12 Honey Pants. Princess Adaleigh will make her first start for trainer Phil D’Amato, one of the leading conditioners in Southern California, in the Queen Stakes. Conversely, Honey Pants exits D’Amato’s barn after winning the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes on turf at Santa Anita Park Jan. 14 and will debut for trainer Jonathan Thomas Saturday night.

This is a wide-open stakes race and appears to have enough front-running types entered to ensure a solid early pace. First among those is 2-1 morning-line favorite B G Warrior, who dominated the 6 ½-furlong Wishing Well Stakes by 5 ¾ lengths, geared down late by jockey Albin Jimenez after leading by nine lengths at the top of the stretch. B G Warrior has a record of two wins, three seconds, and two thirds in nine starts at Turfway, including another stakes win in a sprint back in February 2023, but I think she’ll get some early pressure in the Queen Stakes from #7 Victorious, a lightly raced filly who is 2-for-2 at Turfway, both wins coming earlier this year, and from the aforementioned Princess Adaleigh. That Goldencents mare has three career wins in California – one each on dirt, turf, and all-weather – and she led at every point of call in each of them.

Honey Pants (BENOIT photo)

Most of the other starters in the 12-horse field prefer to come from off the pace, including Honey Pants. This Cairo Prince mare has won only four times in 22 starts but has finished second or third 10 other times, and she’s competed at the stakes level in nine of her last 10 races – first with trainer Christophe Clement on the East Coast, and then four out of five times in California for D’Amato. In two of her starts at Santa Anita, she matched up against multiple graded stakes-winning turf sprinter Elm Drive, finishing second to her last May and then outdueling her in the 6 ½-furlong Las Cienegas back in January on the downhill turf course. She has been training well at Turfway since moving to Jonathan Thomas’ barn and gets the services of Turfway’s leading jockey, Luan Machado, on Saturday. One concern is Honey Pants’ tendency to either start slow or find traffic trouble in her races, but if Machado can get her out of the gate clean from the far outside post, he should be able to settle this mare in midpack but still in touch with the early leaders and then maneuver her into a good position to rally four or five wide coming out of the turn.

Honey Pants’ 9-2 odds on the morning line are attractive for a win bet, and I’ll also key her on top of a 50-cent trifecta with five horses grouped in second and third for a $10 total wager. That quintet is made up of B G Warrior, Victorious, Ravella, and two others - #2 Souper Munnings and #11 Current Climate. Souper Munnings is 15-1 on the morning line and might be able to pick off enough horses in the stretch to spice up the trifecta if the early pace is as fast as I think it will be. Current Climate, a 5-1 shot, has won three times and finished third twice in five career starts on this track, including victories last December and on Jan. 12 in allowance-optional claiming races.

Here’s my betting strategy on a $20 budget for the Queen Stakes Saturday evening at Turfway Park. The race will be televised on FanDuel TV and has a scheduled post time of 8:25 p.m. ET.

What to say at the betting window:

Turfway Park, Race 6, $10 win on #12

Turfway Park, Race 6, 50-cent trifecta, 12 with 2,6,7,9,11 with 2,6,7,9,11 ($10 total)

Good luck and enjoy the race!