Transylvania Stakes attracts talent from all over
LEXINGTON, Ky. – One of the utter delights of Keeneland racing is the mix-and-match nature of handicapping – and one need look no further than the featured Transylvania Stakes on Friday.
Eleven 3-year-olds who made their last starts at seven different tracks will meet in the 31st running of the Grade 3, $150,000 turf race. The melting-pot effect is hard to miss.
“They’re coming in from all over,” said Wesley Ward, who will send out the uncoupled duo of Onthewaytonevrland and Hawaiian Noises in the 1 1/16-mile race. “But that’s the way it goes here.”
Indeed, horses shipping from or representing Florida, Louisiana, California, and Canada will face the Ward runners, both of whom trained (and won stakes) in the relative obscurity of Turfway Park through the winter. The probable favorites include Henley’s Joy, an ungraded stakes winner at Gulfstream Park in December; Avie’s Flatter, making his seasonal debut after a pair of restricted stakes wins last year at Woodbine; and War Film, whose last-out allowance victory at Fair Grounds was a sight to behold.
Avie’s Flatter, with Javier Castellano riding from post 4, wintered at Palm Meadows in Florida, registering 11 breezes starting in mid-January, the last three coming over turf. The Flatter colt has won 3 of 4 career starts and is the early favorite for the Queen’s Plate.
“We’re all very anxious to see him come back,” trainer Josie Carroll said. “I had hoped to run him once in Florida, but it took him longer to adapt to the dirt in his works than I’d anticipated. I felt like he was working well but tiring late. Then when we worked him on the turf, you couldn’t pull him up.”
Henley’s Joy (post 10, Tyler Gaffalione) is one of two Transylvania starters for trainer Mike Maker, along with longshot Dunph. Henley’s Joy, first or second in 5 of 6 turf starts, will be returning to his preferred surface after finishing 10th in the Risen Star on dirt at Fair Grounds in a failed attempt to join the Kentucky Derby chase.
War Film (post 8, Florent Geroux), trained by Steve Asmussen, will be making his stakes debut after winning at first asking here last fall, then overcoming a brutal trip to win his lone subsequent start on March 13.
Other considerations in a well-matched lineup include The Black Album (post 1, Jose Ortiz), getting first-time Lasix while making his first start since failing to be a factor last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, and Louder Than Bombs (post 7, Luis Saez), who was competitive in all four divisional stakes at Gulfstream over the winter.
The balance of the field is Go Away, Weekly Call, and Life Mission.
The Transylvania, named for the Lexington university founded in 1780, goes as the ninth of 10 Friday races. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern, with the feature set for 5:30. Showers and a high of 67 are in the local forecast.
Four allowances (races 4, 7, 8, 10) help make up a terrific undercard that also includes a 2-year-old maiden-special (race 2) in which Lady Pauline, a half-sister to Lady Aurelia, figures to be heavily favored for Ward and owner-breeder Stonestreet Stables.
Friday is College Scholarship Day, with $30,000 in scholarships available to registered students. Two $10,000 scholarships, each donated by Jim McIngvale in the name of Runhappy, will be raffled off, along with a $1,000 scholarship after each race.
