Keeneland: Snow Top Mountain takes advantage of race conditions

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The string gets played out this week at Keeneland, where only one stakes remains during the final four-day stretch of the fall meet. Still, there are some quality races to while away the afternoons in anticipation of another Breeders’ Cup in Kentucky, including a pair of two-turn allowance races to be run Wednesday on the turf.

Snow Top Mountain, winner of the Kentucky Cup Ladies Turf at Kentucky Downs last month in her most recent start, dips back into allowance company in the eighth of nine races, taking full advantage of the way conditions are written. The race is restricted to fillies and mares “which have not won $24,600 twice ‘other than’ . . . in races over a mile on turf since Dec. 25.” How fortunate for trainer Tom Proctor that Snow Top Mountain has won three rich races during that prescribed span – but two of them were exactly at a mile, which allows her into the field Wednesday.

“It takes great expertise to read a condition book the way I do,” Proctor said with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

Snow Top Mountain, a 4-year-old gray filly with earnings of $316,663 from 16 starts, was assigned post 4 in a field of nine in the 1 1/16-mile race. Mark Guidry has the call.

Among the other stakes-caliber runners in the feature are Fugitive Angel (post 8, Julien Leparoux), an earner of $350,000 for Augustin Stable and Jonathan Sheppard, and Hooh Why (post 9, Corey Lanerie), winner of the Grade 1 Ashland in 2009 over the Polytrack here. Others in with a chance are Forest Uproar (post 2, Robby Albarado), who stops over on her way from Canada to Fair Grounds for Mark Frostad, and Seniga (post 5, Greta Kuntzweiler), a winner under very similar conditions here last fall for Scooter Hughes.

Two races earlier, an oversubscribed field of 3-year-olds and up is entered in the sixth, a $52,000 first-level allowance at a mile. Voodoo Storm, with Leparoux riding for Shug McGaughey, and Quantity, with Junior Alvarado riding for Proctor, look like logical favorites.

The lone remaining stakes at this 17-day meet is the Grade 2 Fayette on the closing-day card Saturday.

◗ There are no carryover jackpots for Wednesday after the 50-cent pick five was hit for $40,297 and the $1 super high five returned $27,831 in the last race Sunday.