On Saturday afternoon presents racing fans with a strong 12-race card headlined by the meet’s premier event, the $200,000 .

The mile and an eighth race conducted over the synthetic surface drew a field of 12 three-year-olds set to compete for a total of 34 qualifying points (20 to the winner) on the “Road to the Kentucky Derby.”

The Jeff Ruby Stakes offers horseplayers a challenging full field event, but there are also plenty of opportunities to build your bankroll leading up the big race. Here are a couple of horses likeliest to get to the wire first on Saturday afternoon in Northern Kentucky.

Race 4

#2 Bemus Point makes her first start as a four-year-old for trainer Rusty Arnold. The daughter of Bernardini ended her 2017 with consecutive speed and fade efforts at Churchill Downs over the main track. In both of those races, the G Watts Humphrey Jr. owned gal had to battle in the early going, which left her with little energy left for the final few furlongs.

The surface switch from the dirt to the synthetic is always a question mark, but on Saturday Bemus Point should have things her way on the front end under jockey Chris Landeros. I expect Landeros to send from his inside draw, dictate terms on the backstretch, and have enough late to hold off this filly’s main rivals.

Bemus Point is listed at 5-2 on the morning line. Anything at that price or higher makes her worthy of a Win wager.

Race 8

The eighth race on the twelve-race card is the $100,000 Kentucky Cup Classic run at a mile and an eighth.

The field is led by 2-1-morning line favorite #4 Royal Son. The six-year-old gelding heads into his 2018 debut off of two dominating wins over this surface.

Two-back the son of Tiznow stalked a few lengths off the early pace in an optional claiming event at one mile and drew away late to win by two and a half lengths in the end. The Sweet Home Stables runner followed that strong performance up with a career best 104 BRIS speed rating in his win in the $50,000 Prairie Bayou in late December.

The winner of 6 of 22 career starts has been given a two and a half month freshening by trainer Kellyn Gorder and now returns to the races on Saturday where he looms the clear one to beat in the Kentucky Cup Classic.

Look for jockey Dean Sarvis to stalk just off the early pace, take control when they turn for home and have plenty of left late to run his record at Turfway Park to an eye popping 4 for 5 and his mark over an all weather surface to 6 for 12.

At 2-1 or higher Royal Son is worth consideration on the win end.

Good luck on the big day in Florence, Kentucky. Hopefully we can hit a few winners and then take a few shots in extremely challenging renditions of the Grade 3 Bourbonette Oaks and of course the featured Jeff Ruby Steaks.