First Resort Kicks Off 3-Year-Old Campaign in Battaglia

As a grade 2 winner last year with earnings of $338,671 in four starts, Godolphin's homebred First Resort brings an imposing résumé into the $175,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes Feb. 22 at Turfway Park.

No one is running scared, however. Eleven 3-year-old rivals oppose him in the 1 1/16-mile race on the track's synthetic Tapeta surface, and another two are also-eligibles. Among First Resort's foes are stakes winners Studlydoright , Baby Max , and Coming in Hot , plus local runaway allowance optional claiming winner California Burrito .

This marks the first start for First Resort on Tapeta, a surface on which he has trained through the winter at Turfway for trainer Eoin Harty. Last summer, the son of Uncle Mo broke his maiden in the mud at Ellis Park, placed second on a fast track in the Aug. 10 Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course, rallied for fourth in the Sept. 14 Summer Stakes (G1T) at Woodbine on turf, and scored by 2 1/4 lengths over Jonathan's Way  at Churchill Downs in the Nov. 30 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2), again over a fast track.

Video: Kentucky Jockey Club S. (G2)

Luis Saez, aboard in the Kentucky Jockey Club, travels to Northern Kentucky for the ride in the Battaglia, which has an approximate 8:55 p.m. ET post time as the seventh race on the Saturday evening program.

The John Battaglia Memorial will award its top five finishers Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale.