LEXINGTON, Ky. – Although Keeneland will open for racing Sunday, there is no certainty that the $300,000 Palisades, now scheduled to be the first turf stakes of the meet, will remain on the grass. With multi-day storms placing Lexington under a flood watch from Wednesday through Sunday, the turf course will be waterlogged. In addition to safety, preserving the course for upcoming graded stakes at the meet will certainly be on the minds of officials.
Three days later than planned, Keeneland hosts the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes – with an actual chance now to keep the race on turf.
Part of the April 4 card that was moved to Monday, April 7, the Transylvania, a 1 1/16-mile contest, drew an overflow field. The large number of entries comes as no surprise: The Transylvania, worth just $150,000 as recently as 2019, got a $200,000 purse bump this year and now is worth $600,000, a massive pot for an early-season 3-year-old grass race.
The Hutcheson Stakes winner, the Swale Stakes winner, and the fourth-place finisher from the Grade 1 Hopeful race Monday at Keeneland in the Lafayette Stakes, yet the Lafayette spotlight shines on a horse who has atop his résumé a second-start Aqueduct maiden victory.
Colloquial’s 1:16.69 clocking for 6 1/2 furlongs, which looks ordinary, was no standard-issue maiden win and requires context.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Take Charge Lady gave trainer Kenny McPeek the first of his three wins in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes – and then some. She was unbeaten at Keeneland, also winning the Alcibiades Stakes, then a Grade 2 event, and two editions of the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes.
“Some said she was the queen of Keeneland,” McPeek reminisced.
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The prospect of sustained heavy rain over several days caused Keeneland to move the first two cards of its spring meet, Friday and Saturday, to Monday and Tuesday. That blows a hole in the Saturday stakes schedule, which is littered with short fields, several difficult to play.
Santa Anita Derby
Yes, this one has the shortest stakes field of them all, with just five entered. Worse, I’m siding with the favorite. But even a short favorite in a short field can pay more to win than he should, which could happen with Journalism.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Quint’s Brew brings his razor-sharp Mid-Atlantic form to New York, where he starts as the likely favorite in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Carter Stakes going seven furlongs at Aqueduct.
Quint’s Brew, trained by Ned Allard, has won four of five career starts, with his lone loss coming when he was bothered coming out of the gate and then raced in between horses through strong early fractions in the Star de Naskra Stakes at Laurel Park last June.
The great Hong Kong star Romantic Warrior hit the wire a split second after Forever Young in the $20 million Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh six weeks ago. Saturday night in Dubai, Romantic Warrior will hit the wire about one hour and 15 minutes before Forever Young, and that’s why Forever Young is a virtual lock to win the $12 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse.
The $100,000 Evangeline Downs Mile on Saturday night helps usher in opening weekend at the Opelousas, La., track that last season was the site of the career debut of Kentucky Derby candidate Coal Battle and which continues to be the spring and summer base of Louisiana-bred superstar Free Like a Girl.
Evangeline will race 73 nights through Aug. 23. First post is 5:30 p.m. Central.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – As impressive as Captain Cook has been winning his last two races, even trainer Rick Dutrow knows the horse has more to prove before being considered a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender. Heck, he has more to do just to qualify for the $5 million Derby on May 3 at Churchill Downs.
