Spiral Shaping Up as Competitive Event

A field of at least 10 is shaping up for Saturday's grade II spiral Stakes at Turfway Park, and the $600,000 race appears wide open. The draw for post positions will be held Thursday.

Gary and May West's Mongoose was expected to compete in the March 18 Tampa Bay Derby, but he scratched in favor of the Spiral. Trained by Bill Mott, Mongoose won the Miller Genuine Draft Cradle Stakes at River Downs as a 2-year-old, and began his 3-year-old campaign with a third-place finish in an allowance test at Gulfstream Park.

John Oxley's Holiday Thunder, trained by John Ward, has been pointing toward the Spiral, and he'll arrive at Turfway later in the week. A stablemate of Florida Derby winner Monarchos, Holiday Thunder finished second to Point Given in last year's Kentucky Cup Juvenile.

Trainer Elliot Walden plans on running two colts -- Mark Stanley's Camden Park, and Frank Mansell and James Stone's Meetyouathebrig -- in the Spiral. Meetyouathebrig won the Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs on Breeders' Cup Day last fall.

Others expected for the Spiral as of Tuesday are Clutch Player, sixth in the Louisiana Derby; Fan Club's Mister, a Gulfstream maiden winner; Buckle Down Ben, last year's Laurel Futurity winner; and Halo's Stride, Balto Star, and Keats.