Fantasioso gets some class relief in turf marathon

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fantasioso has run for some rich prizes over the course of his career. The multiple group stakes winner gets some class relief as he goes in the richest event on Thursday’s card at Keeneland, an $88,000 second-level allowance race.

A pair of allowances – the 1 1/2-mile turf event and an $86,000 first-level allowance on dirt – serve as the nominal features Thursday, the fifth card of Keeneland’s fall meet and first without a stakes race.

This will be the first time since 2018 that the 6-year-old Fantasioso, a long-distance specialist, has started in a non-stakes event. In his native Argentina, the horse was a multiple Group 3 winner and multiple Group 1-placed at distances up to 1 1/2 miles. He has made six starts in the United States this year for trainer Ignacio Correas. In that span, Fantasioso has finished second in the Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup at two miles and third in the John’s Call Stakes at Saratoga going 1 5/8 miles. Most recently, he was eighth in the Grade 1 Canadian International going 1 1/2 miles on Sept. 18 at Woodbine.

Fantasioso typically rallies from off the pace. Drawn on the rail in an overflow field, he will have no trouble saving ground early in Thursday’s route, but will then have to work out a trip under Adam Beschizza.

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Some logical contenders in this field are coming out of 1 5/16-mile allowances at Kentucky Downs, with trainers often citing that unique turf course as a stamina-builder. Malthael is coming off a runner-up effort by a nose in which he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 90, the top last-out number in the main body of this field. Mud Pie was an allowance winner at that distance.

The co-feature on the card is an $86,000 allowance going seven furlongs on dirt, in which the well-bred Milliken will be trying winners for the first time. The colt was an eight-length debut winner going the same distance Aug. 29 at Ellis Park.

Milliken, by Into Mischief, is a half-brother to graded stakes winners McCraken and Four Graces, and to graded stakes-placed Bondurant and With Dignity. All raced as homebreds for Whitham Thoroughbreds and were trained by Ian Wilkes. The same connections, along with a regular partner in jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., team up again here.

Hernandez opened the Keeneland meeting on a strong note, riding five winners through the stakes-loaded first three days of the meet, including Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity winner Rattle N Roll and Grade 2 Bourbon Stakes winner Tiz the Bomb.

Olympiad and Ducale – the latter is on the also-eligible list – were second and third, respectively, to the well-regarded Baby Yoda in a Saratoga allowance on Sept. 4. They earned Beyer Speed Figures of 105 and 92 for those efforts. Baby Yoda came back to finish third of four in the Grade 1 Vosbugh Stakes last Saturday at Belmont.

Thursday’s card also includes two $84,000 maiden special weight events – one for 2-year-olds, and one for older horses on turf.