It’s not all that common for a good turf horse to work over a dirt track with a good dirt horse. Remember Mamba, who runs Friday at Keeneland in the Transylvania not only has been working in company with the good dirt horse Reagan’s Honor, a contender in Saturday’s Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes, he’s been holding his own. It’s not just recent team works that point out Remember Mamba as an exciting prospect for the Grade 3, $600,000 Transylvania and other turf stakes this spring and summer. Remember Mamba notched an open-lengths debut victory last fall at Keeneland and in his second start dominated first-level Fair Grounds allowance foes Jan. 22. The 2 1/2-month gap between races comes by design. “He debuted at a tough time to run him back anywhere,” said Cherie DeVaux, who trains Remember Mamba for Lee and Susan Searing’s C R K Stable. “All the races for him this year were later in the season, so that’s why we took our time.” :: Keeneland Spring Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, picks, news, and more. “I’ve always liked this horse,” DeVaux said. “We were going to run him at Saratoga. He was very precocious, very mature, acted like a Breeders’ Cup-type horse, but he had a little issue and he got scratched.” Jose Ortiz rides Remember Mamba, who has a hint of positional pace. Priced at 7-2 on the morning line, Remember Mamba could drop from that number despite facing 10 foes in the 1 1/16-mile Transylvania. Vasy, by Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Space Blues and out of a mare by Exceed and Excel, is bred along the lines of a sprinter-miler, but a fourth start switch from one-turn sprints to middle-distance two-turn racing bumped Vasy to a new level. Up by a neck in a 7 1/2-furlong Gulfstream Park maiden race Jan. 24, Vasy went out to 1 1/16 miles in the Colonel Liam Stakes on Feb. 28, knifed between horses in midstretch, and won by a neck while going away. “I thought the 7 1/2 would be perfect for him, and it proved to be,” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “It looked like he could go a little further, and when he won the Colonel Liam, he really finished. He’s a real little racehorse – not very big, but he can run.” Flavien Prat has a return call on Vasy, who slipped into the pocket last out, but despite a good inside draw Friday might not secure that position. Proton, rail-drawn and second last out in the Columbia at Tampa Bay Downs, has just as much pace as Vasy and could draft right behind the speed – of which there’s plenty. Honey Dutch, second in the Colonel Liam, has led or pressed in all his turf routes. He’s drawn in post 10, one slot inside Ganaas, who makes his turf and 3-year-old bow after showing dirt-sprint speed at age 2. Street Beast, winner of the $1 million Juvenile Mile last summer at Kentucky Downs and a decent fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, can’t help but race close with his natural pace. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Street Beast put that pace to good use landing the Leonatus on Jan. 17 at Turfway Park, but as the 9-5 favorite five weeks later in the Battaglia Memorial there, Street Beast contested the pace and stopped, all but eased across the wire. His trainer, Ben Colebrook, said Street Beast smacked into the gate just before the Battaglia break and compared the impact to a human getting punched in the nose. A return to turf racing also could suit the colt. Noble Dynasty split Transylvania starter Attfield and Honey Dutch finishing second in the Central Park on Nov. 7 at Aqueduct, his most recent outing. The colt at age 2 looked like a horse who would improve with maturity at 3, though in the end he might want more distance than Friday’s 1 1/16 miles. – additional reporting by Nicole Russo :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.