The real feast of Keeneland turf racing comes Friday and Saturday, with awesome renewals of the Maker’s Mark Mile and the Jenny Wiley, but the Thursday feature came up pretty tasty, too. Race 8, a second-level allowance, drew 16 entrants for a dozen starting spots. There are plenty of ways to go. Simulate drops from four stakes starts while returning from a 10-week break. A fairly flashy Saratoga allowance winner last summer, he checked in second behind the capable Giocoso in the Secretariat on Aug. 9 at Colonial Downs before his development arc halted. Trained by Bill Mott, Simulate is just a 4-year-old and as a son of Kitten’s Joy has the pedigree to improve with age. Clever Again’s most prominent race last year at age 3 came in the Preakness, not because he raced competitively – he did not – but because he was part of the upper-stretch scrum that nearly resulted in a wreck. Clever Again, out of a Galileo mare, probably always was meant to be a turf horse, and he ran well enough in his first two grass races, in August and September, that one could imagine him returning from a long layoff ready for something even better in his 4-year-old bow. Reagan’s Wit followed a fourth-place finish in the Transylvania a year ago at Keeneland with a win in the James Murphy at Pimlico, but lost his form at Saratoga and spent the second half of 2025 on the sidelines. His comeback on Jan. 17 came in a tough spot, a salty renewal of the Colonel Bradley at Fair Grounds, where Reagan’s Wit fell too far back during the early stages to make a late impression. :: Keeneland Spring Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, picks, news, and more. He has been aimed at Keeneland since that start, trainer Cherie DeVaux said, and Jose Ortiz retaking the mount could help his chances. Reagan’s Wit can be a very tricky ride, and Flavien Prat had never sat on the horse before getting a leg up in the Bradley. Mountain Bear made his American debut way back in fall 2023, shipping from Ireland to run second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, though he was injured in that race. His second American start, in October 2024, yielded a good third in the Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland, but Mountain Bear could do no better than second in four 2025 starts after moving into the barn of trainer Wesley Ward. Expect something considerably better than his sixth in a race at this level during the fall meet. McRavin has won two straight in Florida for trainer Jimmy Toner, but it’s Chad Brown who sends out the most likely winner. Risk Tolerance last started Jan. 24. He worked back Feb. 27 and has kept to a steady pattern – the look of a horse aimed at the Keeneland meet. Five-year-old Risk Tolerance has made but five starts. Easily the worst of those races came in his second start, but Risk Tolerance didn’t return to racing following that July 2024 outing for more than 13 months. He’s since turned in two seconds and a Tampa Bay Downs first-level allowance win, but in defeat last out at Gulfstream Park, Risk Tolerance ran like a horse who will win the Thursday feature. Last of 10 much of the trip, he came into the short Gulfstream homestretch too far behind to have any chance – until he blistered his final quarter-mile in 22.70 seconds and missed the pacesetting winner by a neck. Probably, despite a deep field, he hits the mark Thursday :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.