Bulletin takes them all the way in Palisades Turf Sprint

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The speedy colt named Bulletin picked up right where he left off last fall when leading every step of the inaugural Palisades Turf Sprint as Keeneland opened its spring meet on a Thursday for the first time in 60 years.

Quickest from a starting gate filled with 12 3-year-olds, Bulletin put away the only filly in the field, Abyssinian, before proceeding to a 1 1/2-length victory over Real News in the $100,000 race. The winner paid $4 as the favorite after finishing 5 1/2 furlongs in a swift 1:02.92.

“He’s a special horse,” said winning rider Javier Castellano, who also was aboard last November when Bulletin led at every call of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. “Everything he does, he does it the right way.”

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Before a crowd of 11,601 who turned out amid hazy skies and pleasant conditions, Bulletin went in splits of 22.10 and 45.65 seconds when opening daylight in the upper stretch. Castellano went to a right-handed whip four times in deep stretch, and only a belated outside run from Real News kept it from being a romp. Abyssinian finished another 2 1/4 lengths back in third.

Bulletin, a Kentucky-bred trained by Todd Pletcher for a partnership headed by WinStar Farm, now is perfect in three starts. Elliott Walden, president of WinStar, said the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup on June 22 at Royal Ascot in Great Britain is being seriously considered for the City Zip colt, with perhaps an interim race at Churchill Downs or Belmont Park.

Walden said the connections were "hoping" the colt would run the way he did in the Breeders’ Cup. “Sometimes from 2 to 3, they don’t hold their form together, so it’s exciting to see him come back and run the way he did last fall.”

The race was delayed several minutes when Gladiator King, a 16-1 shot, was scratched after acting up in the gate.

The $2 exacta (12-6) paid $23.40, the $1 trifecta (12-6-9) returned $42.20, and the 10-cent superfecta (12-6-9-2) was worth $54.01.

The Palisades was created partly in the spirit of a new opening day, which was run with a later first post (3 p.m. Eastern) than what will be used for the duration of the meet (1:05). It was the highlight of an eight-race card that was followed by live music and other social activities until sundown. The first Friday in April long had been the traditional opening date.

Earlier on the card, Mean Sophia ($29.40) dusted 2-year-old maiden fillies in the meet opener, winning by 10 1/2 lengths in finishing 4 1/2 furlongs in 51.59 seconds over a fast track. Only one of 12 races run here last spring at the same distance was done in faster time.

The front-running score became a pattern: four of six dirt races were won gate-to-wire, with a 2-5 winner in race 2, Honey Bunny, being one of the exceptions.

In the only other turf race on the card, Admission Office ($23) was up in the final jumps to nail the 2-5 favorite, Instilled Regard, in race 5, an $81,500 allowance at a mile. For Instilled Regard, the fourth-place finisher in the 2018 Kentucky Derby, the race was his first in four months; his first for trainer Chad Brown; and his second over turf.

Favorites won four of the eight opening-day races, with the other four winners sent away at 13-1, 15-1, 10-1, and 9-2.

The 16-day spring meet runs through April 26, with dark days being Mondays, Tuesdays, and Easter (April 21).