Halo Najib and Turf War clash in the Lane's End Stakes (gr. II) at Turfway Park on Saturday, the feature of a twelve race card. In 2007, Hard Spun won this race before finishing second to Street Sense in the Derby, and in 2005 Flower Alley won before a productive summer that included the Travers Stakes (gr. I).

Halo Najib may be favored. The son of Halo's Image is trained by Dale Romans for Zayat Stables. He finished 6th in the Fountain of Youth Stakes, but before that race he won the OBS Championship by 2 3/4 lengths. Although his record before that performance shows no wins since his maiden race in October, Halo Najib finished second to Court Vision in the Iroquois, 5th to Anak Nakal in the Kentucky Jockey Club, and 3rd to Smooth Air in the Hutcheson. Kent Desormeaux, who rode the colt to victory at Ocala, will be up again today.

Turf War, a son of Dixie Union, is three for six lifetime. He is coming off a shocking 9th place finish in the Southwest Stakes (gr. III), a strange result considering his previous race was a gritty dead heat win in the Delta Jackpot. Mark Casse trains, and Turf War's $518,000+ in earnings should be enough to give him a spot in the Derby starting gate if he shows he's good enough.

Racecar Rhapsody, a $400,000 Fasig Tipton Saratoga purchase, has one only one of four starts for trainer Ken McPeek. He will race with blinkers on in the Lane's End and is coming off a 4th place finish in the Delta Jackpot.

Medjool arrives from California to compete here. He has won only one of his six races, but has been losing to horses like Colonel John, Coast Guard, and Yankee Bravo. Michael Baze is in from California to ride.

Duke of de Buqe is a two for four Pletcher trainee under jockey Julien Leparoux. The Dixie Union gelding broke his maiden by 9 1/2 on January 1st at Aqueduct.

Other starters include Cannonball, 3rd in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf in October; Halo's King, another son of Halo's Image who has been running at Turfway; El Aleman, a blue blooded Juddmonte Farm-bred maiden colt who brought only $11,000 at auction; Adriano, an A.P. Indy colt for Graham Motion who has a mostly turf record; and Macho Again, a West Point Thoroughbred-owned horse trained by Dallas Stewart who is coming off a 4 1/2 length win in an allowance at the Fair Grounds.