Scarlett Sky closes strong for victory in Transylvania

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Joel Rosario set a record that still stands for most victories at a Keeneland meet when he booted home a remarkable 38 winners in spring 2013. The 36-year-old jockey seems to have taken aim at that standard after sweeping both turf stakes for 3-year-olds in last-to-first fashion Friday, opening day of the 15-day spring meet.

Scarlett Sky, bred and owned by Stuart Janney, launched a huge stretch run in winning the 33rd Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes as Keeneland opened the meet amid bright sunshine and temperatures in the mid-40s.

“I just let him get his feet under him,” Rosario said of Scarlett Sky. “Turning for home, for a while he couldn’t figure out what to do, but he did after that. He really put a good finish on.”

Scarlett Sky bided his time to the quarter pole, trailing his five opponents until Rosario wheeled out the Sky Mesa colt and put him to a fierce drive. Fire At Will, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf here last fall, had led most of the way under Tyler Gaffalione as the 11-10 favorite, but he gradually weakened in the final furlong, yielding second to Palazzi when settling for third. Then came Barrister Tom, Earls Rock, and Breadman.

Scarlett Sky paid $7 as third choice after finishing 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.89 over firm going. The dark bay colt was coming off a narrow miss behind Annex, who flattered their form last Saturday in winning the Cutler Bay at Gulfstream Park, and now has three wins and three seconds in seven starts. This was his first stakes win, and the second in the Transylvania for his Hall of Fame trainer, Lexington native Shug McGaughey, following Air Support in 2011.

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An hour earlier, Rosario also passed them all aboard Chasing Artie when giving trainer Wesley Ward his first of two stakes wins on the card. Chasing Artie ($10.20) overcame an awkward start to prevail in dazzling fashion in the $100,000 Palisades Turf Sprint, giving Ward a one-two Palisades finish with Chasing Artie and Fauci.

“He missed the break, but he came back with a strong run in the end,” Rosario said.

Between the two grass races, Ward also won the Grade 3 Beaumont for 3-year-old fillies on dirt with Twenty Carat ($9).

“It’s always humbling to win here,” Ward said. “Our stakes horses really showed up today.”

Chasing Artie is owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey. A homebred by We Miss Artie, the dark bay gelding finished the 5 1/2-furlong distance in 1:03.46 when following a Feb. 26 maiden win over the Gulfstream Park turf with his first stakes attempt. Fauci, the 17-10 favorite, was 1 3/4 lengths behind his stablemate and another two lengths before Unitedandresolute in a field of nine.

The meet started with the first 2-year-old race of the year in Kentucky and a gate-to-wire romp by Bohemian Frost ($5.80), a gray Frosted filly trained by John Ennis. Trainer Ben Colebrook and jockey Corey Lanerie also enjoyed a good start to the meet by teaming with two winners, Rising Seas ($5) in race 2 and Sa Foradada ($27.80) in race 6.

This was the first time since the pandemic struck last March that the general public was allowed ontrack for racing at Keeneland. Roughly half of what could be considered typical for a spring opener turned out after a limited number of tickets were available on a pre-purchase basis, with wait times for some concessions being inordinately long for much of the day.

* Julien Leparoux became just the fourth jockey to win 500 races at Keeneland when Gear Jockey ($4.40) captured the fifth race, a $79,590 allowance going a mile on turf. Only Pat Day (918), Don Brumfield (716), and Robby Albarado (526) have ridden more winners here than Leparoux, who has won or tied for 12 Keeneland riding titles since 2006. Leparoux also won the finale on Illiogami ($7.80).

* An 11-race Saturday card will end with six graded stakes, capped by the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes as the finale. Sunday will be dark because of the Easter holiday.