Keeneland: Magical Moon scratches from Ashland, will run in Beaumont

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Magical Moon has been scratched from the Grade 1, $500,000 Ashland Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland after being assigned the far outside post in a field of 14 and will run instead in the Grade 2, $150,000 Beaumont Stakes here a week from Sunday, April 14.

Magical Moon, a good third here in the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades last fall after breaking from the far outside post, was to be ridden by Rosie Napravnik in the Ashland, which goes at 1 1/16 miles on Polytrack.

“I was pretty much leaning against running in the Ashland anyway because we’ve got questions about the filly getting a distance,” said trainer Al Stall Jr. “The bad post just iced it.”

The defection of Magical Moon, owned by Columbine Stable, will allow one of the two also-eligibles, Adriani or Cash Is Queen, into the Ashland, which is set for 5:23 p.m. Eastern as the ninth of 10 Saturday races. From the 16 3-year-old fillies on the Keeneland program, only as many as 14 can start.

The Ashland offers 100 points to the winner on the new system for eligibility into the May 3 Kentucky Oaks. The Beaumont, run at the Beard Course distance of seven furlongs and 184 feet, is worth 20 points to the winner.

Stall said he is unconcerned about those facts, saying he never intended for Magical Moon to run in the Oaks anyway.