Keeneland: Quartet of allowances highlight Friday card

Playing out the string? Hardly. The 17-day Keeneland fall meet may be coming to a close, but with four consecutive allowances worth a total of more than $200,000 on the Friday card, the aura of big-time racing that has permeated the Lexington, Ky., track since its Oct. 5 opening will continue right until the not-so-bitter end.

The 10-race Friday card marks the penultimate program of the meet, with the Grade 2 Fayette Stakes on Saturday helping to bring down the curtain.

Here is a look at those Friday allowances:

◗ Race 6 ($52,000 first-level, fillies and mares, six furlongs): Brilliant Katie, a romping maiden winner here in the spring, could salvage what has been a disappointing meet for trainer Michael Matz. She breaks from post 1 under Joe Rocco Jr.

Other contenders in a field of nine include New Wave, going turf to dirt for jockey Corey Lanerie and trainer Rusty Arnold, and Myriad and Ire, the respective third- and fourth-place finishers in a similar race here Oct.13.

◗ Race 7 ($54,000 second-level, 3-year-olds and up, one mile on turf): Arnold also has a major player in this field of eight with the rail-drawn Southern Parkway, most recently second at Kentucky Downs for this same condition.

His main challengers could come from almost anywhere: Cyber Secret is eligible to improve substantially in the third race of his form cycle when he stretches out and moves to grass; Trend ships in from Canada with dangerous form for trainer Mark Frostad and jockey Rosie Napravnik; and Keep Up has a sleeper look in his grass debut for Alex Clarkson.

◗ Race 8 ($59,000 classified, fillies and mares, 6 1/2 furlongs): The nominal feature drew a couple of fillies who had the misfortune of facing Groupie Doll in the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes on opening weekend: Honey Chile, who set the pace before settling for third, and Zeematt, who rallied mildly to be fourth, They’re the principals in an excellent field of 10, with the other possibilities including Queen’s Award, who earned an eye-catching 96 Beyer Speed Figure when she defeated odds-on Sly Warrior at 29-1 here two weeks ago.

◗ Race 9 ($54,000 second-level, 3-year-olds and up, one mile on turf): This is a split of the earlier turf allowance (race 7), and it’s similarly wide open. Canadian shipper Any Given Royal enters in excellent form, but is unproven on grass, and the same can be said for General Logan, a Maryland invader with back-to-back wins over the Tapeta synthetic at Presque Isle. Voodoo Storm, Mr. Jeeves, Top Striker, and Mop Head all rate consideration, too.

Races 7 through 10 make up the late 50-cent pick four, with the 10th race being for $7,500 claiming routers. Rolling 50-cent pick threes and rolling doubles are available throughout the day. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.