LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland kicks off the final three days of its spring meet Wednesday with an eight-race card and a $56,441 carryover in the pick six that begins in the third race.

Part of that sequence is the nominal feature, as the day’s seventh race is a $120,000 allowance/optional-claiming race at six furlongs for fillies and mares who have never won twice other-than, or who have never won three races. Several horses in this field are well-bred fillies for major programs with stakes experience.

Retired Kathy ran just well enough on the dirt for her connections to keep racing her on that surface. But when trainer David Van Winkle put her on the turf, Retired Kathy raised her game significantly.

After winning both of her starts on turf, Retired Kathy, a Minnesota-bred daughter of Firing Line, seeks a third straight win on the grass Wednesday in a starter allowance/optional $32,000 claiming race scheduled for one mile that serves as the feature on the nine-race Tampa Bay Downs card.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Koufax might prove to be the controlling speed on Sunday when he goes for his fourth straight win in the eighth race at Oaklawn Park.

And while the second-level allowance could wind up being just that simple, the field of 11 boasts a number of quality rivals that merit consideration.

STICKNEY, Ill. – Trainer Brendan Walsh has a chance to win consecutive renewals of the Illinois Derby when he sends out Raguel on Sunday at Hawthorne Race Course.

Raguel will be a longshot. And it has been a long time since Walsh won the last Illinois Derby with Multiplier in 2017.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Tass, cutting back in distance to a mile and returning to a course over which she’s had success, could offer value in a seemingly wide-open renewal of the $150,000 Plenty of Grace Stakes Sunday at Aqueduct.

Before wintering in Florida, Tass at Aqueduct last fall won a second-level allowance at 1 1/8 miles and ran second, beaten one length, in the 1 1/16-mile Forever Together Stakes. Overall, Tass has a 3-1-1 record from eight starts over Aqueduct’s turf.

Stakes winners Thirty Thou Kelvin and Forever Dixie will launch their 4-year-old seasons Sunday in the eighth race at Gulfstream Park.

The fillies meet in a conditioned allowance over 1 1/16 miles on turf. The field of nine fillies and mares includes fellow stakes winner Bramble Bay.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A class drop and favorable pace scenario should benefit Desert Dawn on Sunday at Santa Anita when she enters the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes as the most likely winner on the card.

It also helps, of course, that the Santa Maria field does not include Desert Dawn’s nemesis Adare Manor. California’s top dirt female, Adare Manor crushed the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap last week at Oaklawn Park, leaving Desert Dawn as a borderline standout Sunday at Santa Anita.

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – As far as trainer Todd Pletcher is concerned, the 2024 Kentucky Derby can’t get here soon enough – especially not after watching his Florida Derby winner and likely Kentucky Derby favorite Fierceness breeze an extremely impressive and very easy five furlongs in 1:00.35 early Friday morning at Palm Beach Downs.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – It has been more than a decade since Jesus Castanon had his first, and thus far only, Kentucky Derby mount. The veteran rider is preparing to take a leg up in the classic again as he is set to ride West Saratoga for first-time Derby trainer Larry Demeritte.

“You know what, you have to just never give up in this business,” Castanon said after piloting West Saratoga through what will be his penultimate breeze for the Kentucky Derby, going six furlongs in 1:16.20 on Friday morning at Keeneland. “You’ve got to keep trying.”