Keeneland trainers race goes down to the wire

The battle for leading trainer at the Keeneland spring meet might well come down to the wire. Wesley Ward holds a 9-8 lead over Brad Cox into the final three-day stretch of the 15-day meet, with both trainers having a number of live chances through Friday, closing day.

Ward has entries in nine races, including several in which he has a stable coupling. Cox has entries in eight races, including two with a coupling. Chad Brown, who has seven wins, has a total of five entries Wednesday and Thursday but none on Friday.

Among jockeys, Tyler Gaffalione starts the week with 16 wins, followed by Irad Ortiz Jr. (13), Flavien Prat (12), and Luis Saez (12).

* Churchill opens Saturday night with the $160,000 Roxelana Stakes, a six-furlong race for fillies and mares, as the feature under the lights. There is no racing Sunday at Churchill, with the five-day Derby week schedule running Tuesday through Derby Day, May 7.

* Sunday was the first day for turf workouts over the new Churchill turf course, with 14 horses breezing with the “dogs” up. The $10 million course is expected to host its first race on opening night, weather permitting. Installation of the new course began when the 2021 spring meet ended in late June.

* Through the first 12 cards at Keeneland, favorites were winning at a 35 percent clip (40 of 114), and field size averaging 9.24 starters per race.