Great White, winner of the John Battaglia Memorial on Saturday night at Turfway Park, will make his next start in a major Kentucky Derby prep race in the Bluegrass State, but which race and track will be determined by how he trains over the next month.
“We’ll see. We’ll train him how he looks,” said trainer John Ennis, who also co-owns the gelding with Three Chimneys Farm.
Ennis noted that the massive Great White, a May foal, is still developing and building strength.
“He’s a big, weak horse, so you don’t want to be too hard,” he said.
Great White earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 84 winning for the second time in three career starts. He made his stakes and two-turn debut in the one-mile Leonatus Stakes last month at Turfway, but had a troubled trip after drawing the rail and finished fifth.
In the 1 1/16-mile Battaglia, he was able to work out a free-running, stalking trip. He kicked clear in the stretch and held on by a neck over a rallying Fulleffort, who had been second in the Leonatus. Both jockey Alex Achard and Ennis, who described Great White as a “big, green horse,” opined that the gelding was waiting on competition after making the lead easily.
Great White earned 20 points toward the Kentucky Derby starting gate for his victory in the Battaglia, the final local prep toward the Grade 3, $777,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks on March 21. That race awards points to the top five finishers on a scale of 100-50-25-15-10. However, Ennis said he could opt to wait for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Blue Grass Stakes, at the same 1 1/8-mile distance and awarding points on the same scale, two weeks later at Keeneland.
“He’s probably better with a longer break between,” Ennis said.
The Blue Grass would mark the first start on dirt for Great White, who has made his three starts on Turfway’s Tapeta. But Ennis, who is based at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, which utilizes a dirt track, has no qualms about that.
“He works phenomenal, and that’s a deep track,” he said. “He’s just an improving horse, but I don’t think the dirt is gonna be a problem.”
Ennis made his debut on the Triple Crown trail in 2024, as his Epic Ride won the Leonatus, finished second in the Battaglia, and then tried dirt in the Blue Grass, finishing third. He drew into the Kentucky Derby as an also-eligible and finished 14th. Epic Ride won last year’s Grade 3 Mint Millions Invitational on the turf at Kentucky Downs, and the millionaire is eyeing the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile at Keeneland’s spring meet as an early-season target.
“Different, different horses,” Ennis said. “This horse [Great White], very high cruising speed, but gets two turns. Epic, in my heart of hearts, I knew he wasn’t a Derby horse because he was so fast. With this horse, I don’t think [there’s] any problem with him getting two turns, the proper Derby trip.”
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