Last-out winners from different tracks collide in Beaumont

LEXINGTON, Ky. – It’s the last of the Kentucky Oaks qualifiers, but probably not one that means a whole lot in that context. The Grade 3 Beaumont Stakes anchors a Sunday card at Keeneland, but the winner probably won’t make the Oaks on May 6, even if her connections want to.

Points, awarded on a 10-4-2-1 basis, figure to go unused unless the Oaks field falls short of the 14-filly maximum, an unlikely scenario that typically relegates the Beaumont into being more a prep for the Eight Belles or Acorn or something else around one turn.

Matareya is the 2-1 morning-line favorite in a field of seven 3-year-olds fillies set to go the Beard Course distance of seven furlongs and 184 feet in the $400,000 Beaumont, which goes as the eighth of nine Sunday races. Matareya, trained by Brad Cox, earned a field-high 91 Beyer Speed Figure as an easy winner of a Feb. 26 allowance going six furlongs at Fair Grounds in her latest start.

“That seems to have really lifted her confidence,” Cox said. “She’s trained really well since then, and I like having the outside post for this.”

Matareya will have Flavien Prat aboard from post 7 when looking for her first stakes win. The Godolphin homebred encountered some rugged foes in three defeats that followed a flashy debut victory last summer at Ellis Park when finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Alcibiades, second in the Fern Creek, and second to Secret Oath in a Dec. 31 allowance at Oaklawn Park.

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“She’s kept some really good company,” Cox said.

The chief threats to Matareya in the 37th Beaumont are two other last-out winners, Lady Scarlet and Gina Romantica, as well as Radio Days.

Lady Scarlet (post 1, Jose Ortiz) has won 2 of 3 starts since being claimed by Mike Maker from Cox last fall at Churchill Downs for $150,000, with a 4 3/4-length jaunt last month in the Cicada at Aqueduct being her most recent. The Union Rags filly is one of two stakes winners in the lineup, along with Chi Town Lady (post 6, John Velazquez), who captured the Bolton Landing last August on the Saratoga turf for Wesley Ward.

Gina Romantica (post 4, Irad Ortiz Jr.) was assigned a mere 64 Beyer in her lone start, a visually impressive maiden score on the March 12 Tampa Bay Derby undercard, but trainer Chad Brown believes she has plenty of upside. After all, owner Peter Brant paid $1,025,000 for the daughter of Into Mischief at the 2020 Keeneland September yearling sale.

“She ran to her works at Tampa,” Brown said. “Obviously, we’ve always had high hopes for her. I thought that first race was very professional. It’s a big jump to go straight from a maiden race into a stake like this, but it seems like she’s that kind of quality.”

Radio Days (post 2, Joel Rosario) will be looking to rebound off a distant fourth-place finish in the Busher on March 5 at Aqueduct, a disappointing effort that followed two wins, then a runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Forward Gal at Gulfstream Park for trainer Shug McGaughey.

Majestic d’Oro and Reagan’s Decision round out the Beaumont cast.

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First post Sunday is 1 p.m. Eastern, with the Beaumont going at 4:44.

The Beaumont directly follows the $200,000 Palisades (race 7), which matches eight 3-year-old turf sprinters, including a pair of Ward-trained fillies. The $3-minimum Turf Pick 3 is on races 5-7-9, including the Palisades. Three allowances and three maiden-specials, all with record-level purses being offered at this meet, also are part of an outstanding program.

Following two dank and frigid days to open the meet, sunshine and a high of 64 are in the forecast for Sunday.

After Sunday, Keeneland goes dark for two days before a four-day week begins Wednesday. Next Sunday (April 17) is dark because of the Easter holiday.