Keeneland: Keep Up no toss-out in River City prep

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keep Up has won six times during a well-spaced career of 16 races, none bigger than the River City Handicap last fall. And there is nothing trainer Alex Clarkson would like more than for the 6-year-old horse to win the River City again when the Grade 3 race is renewed Nov. 23 at Churchill Downs.

Toward that end, Clarkson is using a $66,000 turf allowance on Thursday at Keeneland as a stepping-stone. Despite what that may sound like, Keep Up, one of eight older horses in the sixth of nine Thursday races, might just be good enough to win despite the more important implications of the longer-term goal.

“We’ve really made him work in his last two breezes,” said Clarkson, a 64-year-old native of Glasgow, Scotland. “We really want to win the River City again, and that’s the whole plan. But he’s been training very forwardly and working very hard in the mornings, and I expect a big effort from him in this prep.”

Keep Up, with Miguel Mena to ride, will break from post 4 in a 1 1/8-mile turf race that also drew Rahystrada and several other capable turf routers, including Utley and Air Support.

Rahystrada (post 6, Leandro Goncalves to ride) was scratched last week from the 1 1/2-mile Sycamore Stakes when the race was moved from the turf to the Polytrack because of wet conditions. Trained by Scooter Hughes for Robert Courtney Jr., Rahystrada has won nearly $1.4 million and clearly has the credentials to prevail in this spot. The 9-year-old gelding will be making his first start since he was 11th in the Aug. 17 Arlington Million, a race that followed a record-setting third win in the Arlington Handicap.

Utley (post 5, Jimmy Graham) was an eye-catching winner over the Keeneland turf in April and figures to benefit from a recent start at Kentucky Downs.

in an interesting twist, Air Support (post 8, Rosie Napravnik) is trained by Shug McGaughey, who happens to be the co-breeder of Keep Up in partnership with the horse’s owner, John Chandler of Mill Ridge Farm. Also, McGaughey saddled the runner-up to Keep Up in the River City last fall in Boisterous, the odds-on favorite.

Rounding out the field are Potomac River, Tahoe Lake, Macho Bull, and General Logan.

The Thursday card starts with a $16,000 claiming race at the infrequently run distance of 1 3/16 miles over Polytrack and also includes two other allowances (races 3 and 8). First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.