Already this year, trainer Brad Cox has won four stakes at three racetracks with four different 3-year-old-fillies, and Sneaky Good could be favored to further boost those numbers in the $400,000 Beaumont on Friday at Keeneland.
Sneaky Good won a modest renewal of the Sandpiper at Tampa Bay Downs in December and in the seven-furlong Beaumont, can join On Time Girl, Paradise, Life of Joy, and Prom Queen as Cox-trained 3-year-old filly stakes winners this season.
In Celtic Contender’s first race back from an eight-month layoff, trainer Hamilton Smith was expecting a promising allowance performance to propel the 5-year-old back into stakes company. It’s safe to say he’s ahead of schedule.
“We expected to see a good effort out of him, but he exceeded that a little bit,” Smith said.
WHO’S NOT
Renegade was impressive drawing clear to a four-length victory in the Arkansas Derby and now is widely considered the favorite for the Kentucky Derby. David Aragona pegged Renegade at 7-2 in DRF's Derby Watch top 20, slightly ahead of Commandment (9-2), who somehow got his nose down on the wire over The Puma in Grade 1 Florida Derby. The Puma and Chief Wallabee, a half-length behind the top two in the Florida Derby, are co-third choices at 10-1.
No matter how well Knock It Off runs Friday at Keeneland in the Lafayette Stakes, it won’t be the best racing thing that happened to trainer Steve Asmussen and jockey Jose Ortiz the last week.
While Asmussen watched from far, far away, Ortiz broke Magnitude on top in the Dubai World Cup and never looked back, winning the world’s second-richest race over favored Forever Young this past Saturday. The stakes are lower, but Ortiz could find himself in the same position in the $400,000 Lafayette as in the $12 million World Cup – leading on a live Asmussen charge.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – On this first Friday in April, Zany will try to solidify her status as the favorite for the first Friday in May – and will have to get past a formidable foe in the comebacking Percy’s Bar to do so.
The Grade 1, $750,000 Ashland Stakes for 3-year-old fillies is the featured event among Keeneland’s four opening-day stakes. The 1 1/16-mile race is one of the final major preps toward the May 1 Kentucky Oaks, awarding points for the filly classic on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale to the first five finishers.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jose D’Angelo figures to be sending out the heavy favorite, the newly acquired Ifyousaidso, in Friday’s $70,000 allowance feature. The race drew a field of seven 3-year-old fillies and is scheduled to be run at five furlongs on the grass, weather permitting.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – If you build it, they will come.
That looks to be the case for horses and horsemen, and it should be the case for fans, as Keeneland opens its 15-day spring meet Friday. The Kentucky circuit’s big purses are already drawing the typical large fields for a meet that will offer record stakes rewards, and Keeneland will debut the rest of its new paddock building for patrons after completing the largest capital improvements in its history.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jose D’Angelo said drawing an inside post with Bentornato for last Saturday’s $2 million Golden Shaheen was his lone concern going into the race. And in the end, his instincts proved correct after the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner finished second behind defending champion Dark Saffron following a bit of a slow start in the Group 1 dash at Meydan.
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