Joe Got Even Heads Battaglia Field at Turfway

Joe Got Even, local winner of the WEBN Stakes in his last start, could be the favorite again Saturday when a well-matched field of 11 goes to the post in Turfway Park's John Battaglia Memorial Stakes.

The $100,000 race at 1 1/16 mile is for 3-year-olds and runs as the 11th race on the card.

A son of Stephen Got Even, Joe Got Even won two of four starts at 2 and finished his juvenile campaign with a fifth-place finish in late November at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. II).

He will not face near the quality of runner Saturday as he did that day. The winner was Tiz Wonderful, who won two graded stakes last year, and the second-place finisher was Any Given Saturday, who has won three of four including the recent Sam Davis Stakes at Tampa in impressive fashion.

Joe Got Even made the first start of his 3-year-old season in the Turfway Park Preview Stakes Jan. 6. Favored at even-money, he was beaten a neck in the 6 ½-furlong race.  A month later in the mile WEBN, he cruised down the lane and drew off to a 4 ½-length victory.

Owned by Elizabeth Tobin and Joe Baudo and trained by Philip Sims, Joe Got Even will again be ridden by Miguel Mena. He will carry topweight of 121 pounds, the other 10 runners all toting 115 pounds.

The second and third-place finishers in the WEBN, Cobrador and Eighteenthofmarch, return and will be joined by several out-of-town shippers, including a pair trained by Graham Motion.

Motion will send out both Hermen Greenberg's Rutledge Cat and Farnsworth Farms' Legacy Reserve. Rutledge Cat ran second in last year's Laurel Futurity and ran fourth in the Tropical Park Derby (gr. III) in his first start in 2007 while encountering trouble. He also had a rough trip in an allowance race at Gulfstream Park Feb. 3 and should he be able to show his speed in the Battaglia, he could be a strong forward factor.

Legacy Reserve enters the race of an allowance win at Philadelphia Park and last year finished third in the Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes behind the then unbeaten Hard Spun.

One runner that could be interesting is Approval Rating, who is making his 3-year-old debut after making all four of his 2-year-old starts in Canada and has been training at Gulfstream. Owned by Woodford Racing and trained by Mark Casse, he finished third in the Display Stakes in November, his first attempt on Polytrack.

The entries, in post order, with jockey assignments:
1     Legacy Reserve, Kendrick Carmouche
2     Rutledge Cat, Alonso Quinonez
3     Joe Got Even, Miguel Mena
4     Eighteenthofmarch, Casey Chavez
5     Dicey, William Troilo
6     Bubber, Perry Ouzts
7     Digger, Justin Vitek
8     Catman Running, Willie Martinez
9     Tanyard Hill, Rodney Prescott
10     Cobrador, Victor Lebron
11     Approval Rating, Orlando Mojica