Carpe Diem towers over field in Blue Grass
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Saturday will be a day that untold thousands of people in this area will savor and remember forever.
Perhaps on the advice of the Roman poet Horace, they will “carpe diem,” which translates to “seize the day.” Their beloved Kentucky Wildcats are going to basketball war in the NCAA tournament a few hours after the Blue Grass Stakes is run at Keeneland for the 91st time. Fittingly, the heavy favorite in the Blue Grass is a colt named Carpe Diem, who will be looking to further his progress toward the Kentucky Derby when facing seven other 3-year-olds in the Grade 1, $1 million race.
Carpe Diem, owned by the partnership of Stonestreet Stables and WinStar Farm, is listed as an even-money favorite on the Keeneland morning line for the 1 1/8-mile Blue Grass, which is being run in a new spot on the racing calendar (four weeks prior to the Derby rather than three) and with its largest purse (up from $750,000). However, the colt might well be odds-on at post time since his credentials tower over the opposition. He was a romping winner of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity here last fall before finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He most recently opened his 3-year-old campaign with a five-length score March 7 in the Tampa Bay Derby.
“Once he ran so well in the Breeders’ Futurity, we’ve kind of always felt like the Blue Grass would be a natural fit for his final prep,” said trainer Todd Pletcher. “He’s done nothing along the way to make us think any other way. He had a remarkable 2-year-old season, and then he’s done all the things you’d physically want one to do from 2 to 3. He’s the whole package.”
The Blue Grass winner will get 100 points toward eligibility into the May 2 Derby at Churchill Downs, with the second- through fourth-place finishers earning 40, 20, and 10.
Special first post for an 11-race Saturday card is 12:35 p.m. Eastern, with the Blue Grass (race 10), the last of five straight graded stakes, set for 6 p.m. The Blue Grass will be part of an NBC Sports Network broadcast from 5 to 7 p.m., with the Grade 1 Ashland (race 9) to be shown on replay. The other stakes are the Grade 1 Madison (race 6), Grade 3 Commonwealth (race 7), and Grade 3 Shakertown (race 8).
Keeneland will offer a pick five linking all five stakes, as well as an all-stakes pick four ending with the Blue Grass (races 7-10). Both will have guaranteed pools of $300,000. An additional pick four is on races 8-11.
Post time for the Blue Grass comes just before tip-off (6:09 p.m.) for the first Final Four game, pitting Duke against Michigan State. The second game, matching Kentucky with Wisconsin, goes at 8:49. Typically, thousands of fans leave Keeneland early to watch the games.
Though heavy rainstorms were predicted for the meet opener Friday, the Saturday weather forecast calls for milder and cooler conditions, with mostly sunny skies and a high temperature of 57.
Key contenders
Carpe Diem (Last 3 Beyers: 98-93-91)
* Giant’s Causeway colt has done precious little wrong in his four-race career, with his only defeat being his respectable runner-up finish behind Texas Red in the BC Juvenile last fall.
* To illustrate how he’s held in such high regard by fans, he closed as the 10-1 fourth choice in the final 2015 Derby Future Wager pool held last weekend, behind only American Pharoah, Dortmund, and Mubtaahij.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Carpe Diem. Trainer Todd Pletcher is 64-18-6-13 with a $3.93 ROI over the past five years with 3-year-olds in dirt route graded stakes in the second start following a layoff. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Ocho Ocho Ocho (Last 3 Beyers: 76-90-83)
* Trainer Jim Cassidy warned all who would listen that he might not have had this Street Sense colt 100 percent primed for the San Felipe Stakes four weeks ago, which helps to explain his subpar effort behind Dortmund. With that badly needed race and two subsequent workouts at Santa Anita under his belt, and with his rail post here, the excuses will be harder to find as he tries to prove that he belongs in the Derby discussion.
Gorgeous Bird (Last 3 Beyers: 80-83-75)
* Trainer Ian Wilkes is quietly confident that this Marylou Whitney homebred will run better than he did when finishing a no-threat fifth Feb. 21 in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream in his last start. Gray colt draws favorably in post 2 with Brian Hernandez Jr. assuming the mount.
Frammento (Last 3 Beyers: 85-72-81)
* An eye-catching late run to finish third at 63-1 in the Fountain of Youth has trainer Nick Zito hoping for a fourth Blue Grass win, and he even handpicked Gary Stevens to try to reprise their 1998 triumph with Halory Hunter. This colt looked good in winning a two-turn maiden race here last fall, a key reason Zito skipped the Florida Derby in favor of returning to Keeneland.
Classy Class (Last 3 Beyers: 83-91-75)
* At one point over the winter, the Kiaran McLaughlin stable was filled with Derby prospects (Mawthooq, Ocean Knight, Imperia), but now, it’s down to just this colt and Frosted, who runs Saturday in the Wood Memorial. It seems like he’ll need to improve at least a bit over back-to-back thirds in the Withers and Gotham.
Danzig Moon (Last 3 Beyers: 76-87-83)
* Two-back maiden triumph at Gulfstream had his connections excited about his chances of advancing along the Derby trail, and after running a so-so fourth behind Carpe Diem in Tampa, here’s a perfect opportunity to show that he belongs.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 3 Pepper Roani. Trainer Mike Maker is 21-1-0-2 with a $0.77 ROI over the past five years going synthetic to dirt in graded stakes. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan