Can Went the Day Well get into Derby mix? But Pletcher's Heavy Breathing likely will be favorite in Spiral Stakes on Saturday By James Scully Brisnet.com updated 2:35 p.m. Animal Kingdom emerged from relative obscurity in last year's Grade 3 Spiral Stakes, rallying powerfully to capture his stakes debut, and went on to win the 137th edition of the Kentucky Derby six weeks later at Churchill Downs. The same connections will return to Turfway Park Saturday with Went the Day Well, a recent Gulfstream Park maiden winner who will be attempting to vault himself into the Derby picture. Went the Day Well must be considered a top contender given the contentious flavor of the 12-horse Spiral field, but Heavy Breathing, an unbeaten colt from the barn of leading trainer Todd Pletcher, is the likely favorite in his stakes bow. The $500,000 Spiral helps kick off the first of six "Road to the Derby" telecasts on the NBC family of networks. The NBC Sports Network has the coverage from 5-6 p.m. (ET) and Saturday's broadcast also includes the Bourbonette Oaks, a one-mile test for 3-year-old fillies at the Northern Kentucky oval. Racing is conducted on Polytrack at Turfway and Heavy Breathing will make his first start on a synthetic track Saturday. The promising chestnut is a son of the versatile Giant's Causeway, one of the world's leading sires, but has raced exclusively on dirt so far. However, Pletcher tried to run him on turf at first, entering him in a maiden special weight that wound up being transferred to the main track, and that suggests he can handle different types of surfaces. Heavy Breathing won his career bow by 7 3/4 lengths February 8 and stretched out to two turns for his second start, a 1 1/8-mile allowance/optional claiming event on March 3. He looked like a Kentucky Derby candidate that afternoon, romping by 4 1/4 lengths, and will try to punch his ticket Saturday with jockey Javier Castellano. But Heavy Breathing will need to improve his BRIS Speed ratings (90 and 91) in order to keep winning. He should be up close stalking the pace before offering his best. Pletcher and Castellano are the leading trainer and jockey, respectively, at the current Gulfstream meet. Other top trainers in the Spiral field include Graham Motion, D. Wayne Lukas and Jerry Hollendorfer, and the powerhouse jockey contingent also features Rosie Napravnik, Joel Rosario and John Velazquez. Pletcher will also send out maiden winner Holiday Promise, who will jump to stakes company with New York-based jockey Junior Alvarado up. Holiday Promise will need to show much more following a non-threatening second against allowance/optional claiming foes at Laurel Park most recently. Went the Day Well is a serious win threat for his connections - owner Team Valor International, trainer Motion and jockey Velazquez - and the well-regarded bay is ahead of where Animal Kingdom was at this time last year, according to Motion. That's high praise for the New York-bred colt, who was repatriated to the United States after recording a pair of seconds on the turf in England last year, and Went the Day Well should handle the transition to Polytrack. He drew off to a good-looking maiden score when making second start stateside last time as the even-money favorite and has posted outstanding BRIS Late Pace ratings of 112 and 111. Look for him to bide his time at the back of the pack before making a significant impact in the final furlongs. Handsome Mike exits a third in the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby over the Tapeta track at Golden Gate Fields and recorded a second in the Grade 3 Generous Stakes on turf last year. The Doug O'Neill pupil possesses enough tactical speed to possibly overcome the far outside starting gate and may even try to steal the race under top California rider Rosario, but Handsome Mike has not been a serious factor in his last three stakes attempts and enters this event with class concerns and a terrible post position. Russian Greek faltered when fifth in the El Camino Real Derby, but he reeled off a pair of listed stakes wins prior to his last and should sit a ground-saving trip from the rail post under new rider Corey Nakatani. His BRIS Speed numbers are a little light (career-best 87), but Russian Greek still rates as an intriguing bounce-back prospect for Hollendorfer, who strikes at a 30 percent rate with shippers with 62 percent in the money. Ill Conceived enters the Spiral off a good second in the local prep, the March 3 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes, missing by a head in a head-bobbing finish, and the John Servis-trained colt will attempt to keep moving forward off that encouraging effort. Ill Conceived received a 96 BRIS Speed rating in his Polytrack debut and merits some upset consideration with Stewart Elliott. Mr. Prankster captured a pair of minor stakes at Turfway before faltering to fourth as the favorite in the Battaglia. Trainer Mike Maker was upset with the ride and the bay colt will receive a positive rider switch to Napravnik, the leading rider at Fair Grounds. Mr. Prankster is eligible to show here, but faces a tough tasking stretching out in distance given how poorly he's run in two starts at 1 1/16 miles. Stealcase recorded a nice maiden win at Gulfstream two back and is eligible to keep moving forward following a sixth in his stakes debut, the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct, but the chestnut colt received a tough assignment in post 11 for his first start on a synthetic track. He adds blinkers for Mark Casse and will likely look to establish some early positioning to avoid losing too much ground, but it's probably best to look for more from him down the road. Tizanexpense ran poorly on Polytrack when making his career bow at Keeneland last fall and exits a dull seventh in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes over the dirt track at Fair Grounds. The bay colt did reel off two straight wins prior to his last and is trained by Maker, who does well at Turfway Park, but Tizanexpense is difficult to recommend here. All Squared Away, Coach Royal and Red Jack could all find themselves overmatched in this spot. © 2011 Bloodstock Research Information Services