There’s no chance Just Basking runs as well Friday in the Bewitch Stakes as Burnham Square did last Saturday winning the Elkhorn, but even, say 85 percent of that performance level would give trainer Ian Wilkes a sweep of the two 1 1/2-mile turf stakes at the Keeneland spring meeting. Burnham Square delivered a mighty punch in the Elkhorn, winning by more than nine lengths, and Just Basking actually brings some of the same characteristics to the Grade 3, $350,000 Bewitch, which drew nine entrants. During a 3-year-old dirt campaign, before Wilkes switched him to turf, Burnham Square won the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes, and during her 3-year-old dirt campaign, in August 2024, Just Basking finished third in the Grade 1 Alabama. For an encore, Just Basking did – nothing. Injured and taken out of training, Just Basking didn’t start again until March 2025. She ran a clunker in a Fair Grounds allowance race, her turf debut, went to Kentucky and worked a few times, then went out of training again, only resuming her racing career in January. :: Keeneland Spring Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, picks, news, and more. Wilkes prepped her in a dirt mile allowance, put Just Basking in the Grade 3 The Very One over 1 3/8 miles on Gulfstream Park grass, and Just Basking, a homebred, delivered a first graded stakes score for owners Andrew Schwarz and Wendy Schwarz Gilder. Wilkes disputes the notion Just Basking ran any worse finishing a closing fourth last month in the Orchid Stakes, suggesting the Orchid drew a saltier group than Just Basking had beaten. Regardless, the mare still should be coming forward. “I missed a whole year of racing with her,” Wilkes said. “Definitely, she’ll get better the more racing I can do with her. She’s doing very good, I’m actually very pleased with her. She’s not a big, robust filly.” A slower pace in the Orchid than The Very One probably hurt Just Basking’s chances, as she cannot make her own race. In the Orchid, jockey Javier Castellano eschewed a wide run around the final turn, and Just Basking, last of seven at the head of the lane, could not run down rivals who were finishing strongly after going along at a tepid tempo. Beaten 1 1/2 lengths, Just Basking finished a half-length behind a main Bewitch rival, Speed Shopper, who was racing for the first time in two months after capturing her first graded race, the Christophe Clement, another 1 1/2-mile Gulfstream turf contest. The difference between the two races? In the Clement, Speed Shopper slipped up the homestretch rail and found a gap between foes while making her final run. In the Orchid, turning for home in roughly the same position, Speed Shopper and John Velazquez found themselves stymied with nowhere to run. Velazquez had to switch outside off heels before the eighth pole, and by the time Speed Shopper got her feet back under her, it was too late though she finished with interest. “It was almost the identical trip she had in the Christophe Clement – just didn’t open when she needed it to,” trainer Will Walden said. “When she finally did get clear, she finished well. She hung out in Florida a few more days and has been at Churchill since. She’s always done well there.” Speed Shopper has a little more positional pace than Just Basking and will need to use it to find a spot after breaking from post 9 with a short run to the first of three turns. Venencia pressed a very slow pace and won the Dowager Stakes over 1 1/2 miles on turf last fall at Keeneland, her final start before being sold at auction and turned over to trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. None of her three winter starts at Gulfstream reached the level of her Dowager, where a wet course might have moved her forward. :: Get DRF Kentucky Oaks & Derby Betting Strategies by Marcus Hersh and David Aragona. Full analysis and wager recommendations! Literate exits one-mile and 1 1/16-mile Tapeta races at Turfway Park and is a candidate to lead. She ran a corker two starts ago landing the Wintergreen Stakes by more than 10 lengths, but regressed starkly March 21 in the Latonia, and has no grass credentials suggesting she can contend. Way to Be Marie does but might not want to run this far and has never won at a course other than Fair Grounds. On March 21, in her first start since being purchased at auction for $750,000, she scored a repeat victory in the Tom Benson Memorial, defeating lesser competition than she meets Friday. The main Bewitch competition comes from Just Basking and Speed Shopper. One of them should win. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.