King's review: Pletcher wins Elkhorn at 18-1

Friday, April 25, recap

Winning graded stakes with longshots has become a habit for trainer Todd Pletcher this month. Just a couple weeks after his 41-1 shot Danza lit up the board in winning the Arkansas Derby, Pletcher was at it again in Friday’s Elkorn when 18-1 shot Unitarian scored an upset for him.

As with Danza, it was quite a performance from Unitarian, who closed steadily down the middle of the course under Javier Castellano to win the 1 1/2-mile Elkorn over turf rated “good.” Unitarian seemed out of it coming into midstretch, but kept finding more and in the end won comfortably.

Optimizer and Temeraine, the 4-1 favorite, ran second and third, respectively.

Friday was closing day at Keeneland, and following the track’s announcement that it would change its main track to dirt this summer, brought the synthetic Polytrack era to an end there.

This naturally begs the question, who was the last horse to win on the Keeneland Poly? That would be Contessa B., who won at first asking in the 10th race under an astute ride from Rosie Napravnik.

Off a bit slowly, Contessa B. was positioned on the inside by Napravnik, which proved the key to victory, as the inside leader in the early going, The Tizzler, kept drifting out throughout the running.

When he left a large gap open along the fence on the second turn, Contessa B. and Napravnik shot through and it proved the difference, with the winner scoring by a head over Dreaming of Kitten.

Leading titles came down to the last day in the trainer and owners’ race, Mark Casse coming out on top in the trainer standings, and one of primary clients, John Oxley, having the most wins among owners.

Julien Leparoux was the meet’s leading rider with 19 wins, claiming his 10th Keeneland riding title and tying Hall of Famer Steve Brooks for third place in meet titles. Remarkably for such a young rider, Leparoux has won 345 Keeneland races, including 40 stakes, to rank fifth among all riders in terms of most wins and most stakes wins at Keeneland.

Stewart Elliott, riding his first meet at Keeneland, finished second in the standings with 15 wins, and swept the first three races Friday.

The most noteworthy of those winners was in the opener aboard 2-year-old Conquest Tsunami, who blitzed 4 1/2 furlongs in the Polytrack in 51.06 seconds. He has a bright future, and should be particularly tough at Woodbine this year, being eligible to races for Canadian-breds.

HORSES TO WATCH

Helm
Trainer: Graham Motion
Last race: April 25, 5th
Finish: 2nd by 3 1/2
Beyer: 86

Making his first start of the year and being cut back in distance from routes to sprint, his return Friday seemed a prep. But for a prep, it was quite a good race, with him rallying for second in a turf sprint in his first start on grass. If stretched out to a mile, he could prove even more effective, either racing on turf or at Presque Isle on the Tapeta, where he has been successful, too.