Pick six carryover as Keeneland begins final three days of meet

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland kicks off the final three days of its spring meet Wednesday with an eight-race card and a $56,441 carryover in the pick six that begins in the third race.

Part of that sequence is the nominal feature, as the day’s seventh race is a $120,000 allowance/optional-claiming race at six furlongs for fillies and mares who have never won twice other-than, or who have never won three races. Several horses in this field are well-bred fillies for major programs with stakes experience.

Accede, a Juddmonte homebred trained by Chad Brown, won her debut at Gulfstream Park last year and then jumped into the deep end, finishing third in the Grade 2 Eight Belles and fifth in the Grade 1 Acorn. After a few other stakes tries, she got back on track winning an allowance last October at Keeneland. She makes her first start since over the same track.

Howl, trained by Brad Cox for LNJ Foxwoods, was a romping Keeneland debut winner over a next-out winner last fall, then took the Safely Kept Stakes at Laurel. Shipping across the country and stepping up in class, she was eighth in the Grade 1 La Brea in her most recent start in December at Santa Anita.

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Stakes-placed Unsung Melody is drawn on the rail under an aggressive rider in Reylu Gutierrez. She has raced on the front end in her best races and is likely to show the way in an upset effort here, with Accede, breaking from post 2 under Irad Ortiz, Jr., and Howl, breaking from post 3 under Flavien Prat, likely to sit just off her.

An interesting prospect is lightly-raced Amaretti, drawn on the outside of the field of eight under Jose Ortiz. Trained by Bill Mott for Godolphin, Amaretti also is a Keeneland maiden winner. She has a slight recency edge over Accede and Howl, as she won an Aqueduct allowance in February, her first start in nine months. She also would like to be forwardly placed and will have the long run down the backstretch to try to get over and save ground before the turn.

Following Wednesday’s card, Keeneland concludes its meet with a nine-race Thursday card and a 10-race Friday card that is highlighted by War Like Goddess’s attempt at a fourth win in the Grade 3, $300,000 Bewitch Stakes. The circuit then moves to Churchill Downs beginning Saturday evening.

While standard post time at Keeneland is 1 p.m., Friday’s closing-day first post is 12:30 p.m. to accommodate the company’s spring horses of racing age sale on the grounds shortly following the last race.

Gaffalione, Ward lead standings

Tyler Gaffalione and Wesley Ward lead the rider and trainer standings, respectively, at Keeneland, in tight races coming down to the final few days.

Gaffalione has 15 wins – including the Grade 1 Blue Grass with Sierra Leone – coming into the final three days of the meet, to 14 for Irad Ortiz Jr. and 13 for his brother, Jose Ortiz, who moved his tack to Kentucky this spring. Irad Ortiz moved within striking distance by riding four winners on the Sunday card.

Ward, who is based at Keeneland year-round, leads the trainer standings with 10 wins to seven each for Chad Brown and Brad Cox. Half of Ward’s wins have come with 2-year-olds, as he’s won five of the seven races for that division contested at the meet. Of his 12 entrants in nine individual races over the final three days of the meet, six are juveniles.

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