Final Gambit, Bless the Broken rally to win Jeff Ruby Steaks, Bourbonette Oaks

A powerful homestretch rally carried Final Gambit to a blowout victory in Saturday’s $777,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) over the Tapeta track at Turfway Park.

Coming off a maiden victory racing one mile at Turfway, Final Gambit relished stretching out over 1 1/8 miles for the Jeff Ruby, which awarded 100-50-25-15-10 Road to the Kentucky Derby qualification points to the top five finishers.

A bumping start left Final Gambit at the back of a 12-horse field through splits of :22.97 and :47.91. The son of Not This Time was still far behind after six furlongs in 1:12.84, but as the leaders tired, Final Gambit rallied boldly under jockey Luan Machado to seize command and dominate by 3 1/2 lengths in 1:50.10.

“I knew keeping (Final Gambit) in the clear around the turn would probably be best but I was worried with how wide the horses on the front end were going,” said Machado. “Sometimes when he’s between horses he doesn’t try as hard as when he’s in the clear. He really closed fast down the lane and was impressive late.”

Fellow deep closer Flying Mohawk finished second over Maximum Promise, followed by Poster, Giocoso, Curvino, California Burrito, Innovator, Charlie’s to Blame, Baby Max, He’s Not Joking, and Calling Card.

Final Gambit is a Juddmonte homebred conditioned by Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Brad Cox. He joins the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard in second place with 100 points.

Flying Mohawk ranks 10th on the leaderboard with 50 points, and trainer Whit Beckman indicated the Kentucky Derby (G1) is on the agenda.

“When you’re from Louisville, there’s only one race you’re aiming for and that’s the Derby,” said Beckman.

One race prior to the Jeff Ruby, Bless the Broken proved much the best in the Bourbonette Oaks, a Road to the Kentucky Oaks qualifier worth 50-25-15-10-5 points. With Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez in the saddle, Bless the Broken rated in seventh place behind fractions of :24.24 and :49.02 before rallying steadily to beat 10 rivals by 2 3/4 lengths.

Bless the Broken completed 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta in 1:44.65 to secure her first stakes win. Her previous Road to the Kentucky Oaks forays included a seventh in the Demoiselle (G2), a second in the Silverbulletday S., and a third in the Rachel Alexandra (G2), all on dirt. She sits third on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard with 67.5 points.

“We had her here at Turfway over the summer and saw how well she worked over this track,” said winning trainer William Walden. “So we had that in the back of our minds when prepping for this race that we knew she would handle the racetrack. It’s great to be in the Kentucky Oaks. Rain or shine, we will be there.”

As Catch Can rallied from last place to take runner-up honors in the Bourbonette Oaks, followed by Admit, Bracelet, White Rocks, Zealous Moon, Golden Sunshine, Somethinabouther, Getting After It, Resolve, and Just Ruthless.

Bless the Broken is a daughter of Laoban owned by the partnership of her breeder, Cypress Creek Equine, and Madaket Stables.