Curly Jack, Instant Coffee Duel in Kentucky Jockey Club

After being outrun in grade 1 company at Keeneland, Curly Jack  and Instant Coffee  regroup in the $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs.

The 1 1/16-mile race beneath the Twin Spires is a Road to the Kentucky Derby prep race, offering qualifying points on a 10-4-2-1 scale to its top four finishers. Churchill Downs uses points as a preference system when the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) is overdrawn beyond its 20-horse capacity.

The 2023 Derby is 23 weeks away on May 6, and the connections of nine 2-year-olds entered in the Kentucky Jockey Club can hope Saturday's race can propel their horses toward next year's classic.

Michael McLoughlin's Curly Jack, a son of Good Magic  , is already a stakes winner at Churchill, having won the Sept. 17 Iroquois Stakes (G3), earning 10 Kentucky Derby points in the opening race of the Road to the Kentucky Derby schedule. Sixth early, he took command in the stretch and maintained a length advantage over the final furlong.

After that race, trainer Tom Amoss gave him a month and a half off before the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1) at Keeneland, where he stalked the pace in third before fading to fifth, beaten 12 lengths. Both the Juvenile and Iroquois came at 1 1/16 miles.

He is 2-1-0 in five starts with earnings of race-best $340,180. He began his career at Churchill Downs in June, winning at first asking, before running fifth in the Sanford Stakes (G3) at Saratoga Race Course and second in the swiftly contested Runhappy Ellis Park Juvenile Stakes before he was stretched out to routes.

Edgar Morales returns in the irons on the rail-drawn colt.

Gold Square's Instant Coffee  is lightly raced, having won at Saratoga when unveiled Sept. 3 before running fourth at Keeneland in the Oct. 8 Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1), a race Curly Jack skipped to await the Juvenile.

Trainer Brad Cox told publicist Jennie Rees of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association that he is "really looking forward" to Saturday's race with his trainee, a Bolt d'Oro   colt. He called the Breeders' Futurity a "key race," a contest that produces multiple next-out winners.

Victorious Forte  repeated in the Juvenile, and seventh-place Two Phil's  subsequently took the Oct. 30 Street Sense Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs.

"(Instant Coffee) has really trained forward since that" start in the Breeders' Futurity, Cox said. "I think with a move forward and a good trip he'll be effective."

Luis Saez rides.

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, a three-time Kentucky Jockey Club winner, starts a pair of colts with stakes experience in Red Route One  and Gigante .

Red Route One, third in the Breeders' Futurity, will seek to bounce back from a fifth in the slop in the Street Sense. The Gun Runner   colt is 1-0-1 in four starts for Winchell Thoroughbreds.

Gigante (Not This Time  ) moves from turf to dirt after a 10th in the Castle & Key Bourbon Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland last month. He won the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Kitten's Joy Stakes at Colonial Downs two starts ago and is 2-for-4 overall for owners Iapetus Racing and Diamond T Racing. He  broke his maiden on dirt in slow time in August.

Hayes Strike , second in the Street Sense and fourth behind Curly Jack in the Iroquois, is among two horses trained by Kenny McPeek, who notched his third win in this race last year when Smile Happy  prevailed. His other starter is the steadily improving Denington .

Saturday's card is the second "Stars of Tomorrow" card of the fall meet, featuring 12 races exclusively for 2-year-olds.

Entries: Kentucky Jockey Club S. (G2)

Churchill Downs, Saturday, November 26, 2022, Race 11

• Grade II
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $400,000
• 2 yo
• 5:56 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Curly Jack (KY)	Edgar Morales	122	Thomas M. Amoss	3/1
2	2Western Ghent (KY)	Mickaelle Michel	122	D. Wayne Lukas	20/1
3	3Denington (KY)	Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.	122	Kenneth G. McPeek	12/1
4	4Gigante (VA)	Corey J. Lanerie	122	Steven M. Asmussen	12/1
5	5Red Route One (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	122	Steven M. Asmussen	7/2
6	6Freedom Trail (KY)	Florent Geroux	122	John P. Terranova, II	6/1
7	7Hayes Strike (KY)	Rafael Bejarano	122	Kenneth G. McPeek	10/1
8	8Instant Coffee (KY)	Luis Saez	122	Brad H. Cox	5/2
9	9Cyclone Mischief (KY)	Joseph Talamo	122	Dale L. Romans	8/1