Keen racing at both Lone Star and Gulfstream

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Lone Star Park trainer Dallas Keen has branched out with his stable, sending 13 horses to Gulfstream Park. He shipped into the Florida track about two weeks ago and had a second- and third-place finish Friday from his first two starters there. Keen also will continue to operate at Lone Star, where he has 16 horses, including five new prospects from North America’s leading stable this year in wins, Midwest Thoroughbreds.

The move into Florida is a new one for Keen, who has been a longtime regular in Louisiana and Texas and has had a division in Southern California. Keen is assisted by his wife, Donna.

“I’ve been to Calder twice for stakes,” Keen said, “and this last year we went with Deputiformer for the Claiming Crown. That was the first time we’ve been to Gulfstream.”

Keen said the purse structure at Gulfstream and the trainers’ incentive program that starts in July were among the reasons he decided to send a division to Florida. He also said the end of one of Gulfstream’s meets in November flows perfectly with the stable’s plans to winter at Sam Houston Race Park.

Keen’s group at Gulfstream includes Deputiformer, who went 8 for 13 last year for owners Brent Gasaway and Ian Yarnot and finished 11th in the $110,000 Claiming Crown Iron Horse. Deputiformer has won 2 of 5 starts this year. A handful of 2-year-olds also are among Keen’s division at Gulfstream.

“I’ve got a Silver Train colt that we really like,” he said. “I’ve got a Snow Ridge filly that’s really working good, and we’ve got a Stephen Got Even that’s really working well.”

The runners from the Midwest Thoroughbreds operation of Richard and Karen Papiese are just starting to hit the entries at Lone Star. Some of the runners, older horses who arrived in April, last raced at Hawthorne, and the group includes a 2-year-old from the Fasig-Tipton Texas auction last month at Lone Star.

“The 2-year-old is a Special Rate filly,” Keen said. “We’ve got a name on her now, Sali’s Special. She’s Texas-bred. We’re hoping to run her in the Sales Futurity [at Lone Star] if everything goes right. She’s coming right along.”

Keen’s division at Lone Star also includes Sassy Badger, a 10-length winner of a first-level allowance sprint at Retama Park in October. She is a candidate for the $50,000 Valor Farm Stakes later in the meet at Lone Star, said Keen, who turns 57 on Friday.

The Papieses have been supporters of Remember Me Rescue, a Texas retraining facility for retired racehorses operated by the Keens. Dallas Keen said the Papieses provided for a 20-stall barn at the facility.