Jenny Wiley, Lexington top Saturday card

LEXINGTON, Ky. – It’ll be hard to surpass the drama and excitement of the first Saturday of the meet, when 34,775 crammed Keeneland for the Blue Grass and four other graded stakes, but surely another huge crowd will turn out this Saturday when the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley and the Grade 3 Lexington are among four stakes on the card.

Foremost among the likely starters in the $350,000 Jenny Wiley, a 1 1/16-mile turf race, are the Chad Brown trio of Onthemoonagain, Rushing Fall, and Rymska. The $200,000 Lexington, which offers 34 qualifying points (20-8-4-2) toward the May 4 Kentucky Derby, figures to have Anothertwistafate, Harvey Wallbanger, and Sueno as favorites. A sizable field is expected for the 1 1/16-mile race.

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Also set for Saturday are the Grade 3, $200,000 Ben Ali, a 1 1/8-mile race in which Flameaway could be favored off a last-out win at Tampa Bay Downs, and the $100,000 Giant’s Causeway for filly-mare turf sprinters.

Entries for Saturday are to be drawn Wednesday.

Chip off the ol’ block

Tyler Servis, the son of and assistant trainer to John Servis, will make his solo training debut Friday at Keeneland when he saddles a 4-year-old colt named Wentz in the same allowance in which Copper Town will be favored.

John Tyler Servis is the full name of the younger Servis, 28. He hopes to expand his numbers when moving his base in a few weeks to Monmouth Park in New Jersey. “Couldn’t be more excited to have my first career starter,” he wrote Sunday on his Twitter page.

Tyler Servis was 13 when his dad won the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness with Smarty Jones.

Thursday opener to stick?

The novelty of Keeneland starting the spring meet on a Thursday for the first time in 60 years was “extremely well received,” said track president Bill Thomason.

“We got a tremendous response, both from the local community and in the national simulcast market,” Thomason said of the April 4 opener that drew 11,601 ontrack fans. “I’m not necessarily saying right now that this will become an annual tradition, but then, why not? We really liked how everything went.”

◗ Robert “Spec” Alexander, the Keeneland starter since 1981, has taken off this entire meet with an undisclosed illness, according to the stewards. He has been replaced in the starter’s stand by Raleigh Cox, a longtime gate-crew member.