151 sophomores nominated to Lane's End

The 39th running of Turfway Park's Lane's End S. (G2) has drawn 151

nominations, Racing Secretary Richard S. Leigh announced Monday. A prep on the

road to the Kentucky Derby (G1), the 1 1/8-mile race is scheduled for March 27. 

For years run six weeks before the Kentucky Derby, the Lane's End this year

is scheduled five weeks ahead of the first Saturday in May to accommodate the

recent trend toward fewer preps with ample time between them. The Lane's End's

$500,000 purse virtually guarantees the winner a spot in the Derby field, should

more than 20 seek to enter.

WinStar Farms won its first Lane's End last year with Hold Me Back (Giant's

Causeway), trained by Bill Mott. This year WinStar has nominated 10 to the race,

including the promising DROSSELMEYER (Distorted Humor), also trained by Mott,

and RULE (Roman Ruler), trained by Todd Pletcher.

For the second straight year, Pletcher represents the most nominations with

13. Pletcher has won the Lane's End twice, in 2005 with Flower Alley and in 2001

with Balto Star.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas nominated 11, including Marylou Whitney's BIRD EMPIRE

(Empire Maker) and WOW WOW WOW (Broken Vow). Lukas won the race in 1983 and

1995, and both wins are noteworthy. In 1983, when the race was known as the Jim

Beam Spiral S., the winner Marfa put the race on the national map for the first

time as the favorite for the Kentucky Derby. In 1995 Lukas made history when he

saddled Serena's Song, the only filly to win what is now the Lane's End.

Ken and Sarah Ramsey, perennially the leading owners on the Kentucky circuit,

own five of this year's nominees, including four trained by Mike Maker. One of

the four, KERA'S KITTEN (Kitten's Joy), was the easy winner of the WEBN S.,

Turfway's one-mile prep for the Lane's End. Should one or more of their nominees

start, the Ramseys would be looking for their first win in the Lane's End.

The full list of nominees is posted at

www.turfway.com.

The Lane's End undercard features the Bourbonette Oaks (G3), a one-mile race

for three-year-old fillies leading to the Kentucky Oaks (G1); the 1 1/16-mile

Rushaway S. for three-year-olds, also a prep for the Derby; the six-furlong

Queen S. for older fillies and mares; the six-furlong Hansel S. for

three-year-olds, and this year also the 1 1/16-mile Fairway Fun S. for older

fillies and mares. 

All horses nominated to the Lane's End are also automatically nominated to

the John Battaglia Memorial S., set to run this Saturday as the final local

prep, the Rushaway, and the Hansel.

The Lane's End will be televised by USA Network. Gates open at 10 a.m. (EST)

on March 27, and the first of the day's 12 races goes off at 1:10 p.m.