The John Battaglia Memorial Stakes
is an American horserace for three-year-old thoroughbreds run in early
March at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky over 1 1/16 miles on dirt.
Although it is an ungraded race, the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes
carries a generous purse of $100,000.
Inaugurated in 1982, the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes is a well-known
prep race for the Lane's End Stakes held at Turfway Park in late March,
which itself is a popular prep race for the Kentucky Derby, run each
year in early May. The John Battaglia Memorial Stakes was named after
John Battaglia, formerly the general manager of the old Latonia Race
Track, which was renamed as Turfway Park in 1986 when it was acquired by
Jerry Carroll and his partners.
John Battaglia's son, Mike, is currently the official track announcer at
Turfway Park as well as being a well-known NBC Sports analyst. Since its
inception, the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes has yielded some highly
memorable winners, probably the most notable one being 2008 race winner,
Absolute Cindy.
Absolute Cindy grabbed the attention of the American horseracing world
when she delivered a sterling run to win the John Battaglia Memorial
Stakes as the only filly in the field of 11. Incredibly, Absolutely
Cindy, who was lying last in the first five furlongs, rallied on the
turn to make quick work of the pacesetters and cross the line first in a
time of in 1:44.69. In doing so, she became the first filly to win the
race. |
