LEXINGTON, Ky. – The means were much different, but the results the same.
Just like four Fridays beforehand, Wonder Wheel won a Grade 1 race at Keeneland, albeit on a much bigger stage this time. Rallying from well off the pace – in stark contrast to her wire-to-wire victory in the Oct. 7 Alcibiades – Wonder Wheel drew clear in the final furlong for an emphatic three-length victory in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
LEXINGTON, KY. - It took a relatively short time for trainer William Cowans’s decision to turn Next into a long-distance specialist to reap big rewards. Next left little doubt the farther the better for him after drawing off to an 6 ¼-length victory over Heywoods Beach and eight other overmatched rivals in Friday’s $350,000 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at Keeneland.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Charlie Appleby enjoyed a magical run through the 2021 Breeders' Cup, saddling three winners on the weekend at Del Mar.
The trainer, who holds an outstanding strike rate at this event, came to Keeneland loaded for bear, and the magic was in the air early. Mischief Magic, carried the Godolphin blue, capitalized on a hot early pace, and finished with a flourish to catch fellow European Dramatised for a length win in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Friday at Keeneland.
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Laurel River, 9-2 on the morning line for Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, and Bran, 15-1 in Saturday’s Turf Sprint, were scratched from their respective races on Friday morning by regulatory veterinarians, according to Breeders’ Cup.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – G Laurie, 12-1 on the morning line of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Friday, was withdrawn from the race on Thursday afternoon after she “spiked a temperature,” according to her trainer, Graham Motion.
“Terrible timing,” Motion said, in confirming the withdrawal.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – For three years, Keeneland has been Golden Pal’s home, and he has reigned over its turf course while living off Rice Road under the watchful eye of year-round local trainer Wesley Ward. The two-time Breeders’ Cup winner makes his swan song Saturday as one of the weekend’s most well-regarded favorites in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – It was just two weeks ago here at Keeneland that trainer Todd Pletcher won a single race with two horses as Pure Pauline and Grand Entrance dead-heated for win in a maiden race.
“I was hoping to save that for the Distaff,” Pletcher said. “I can’t imagine that happening again in a couple of weeks.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – About 6 a.m. each day this week, Flightline has entered the Keeneland track to train, the engines of the first planes of the day ready to depart Blue Grass Airport, just south of the track, begin to rev up.
Juan Leyva, the exercise rider aboard Flightline, tells his supersonic colt “chill out. You don’t have to take off yet.”
Departure time for Flightline is roughly 5:40 p.m. Saturday, when he looks to cap a brief but brilliant season – perhaps career? – in the $6 million Classic at Keeneland.
Before Flavien Prat earlier this year moved his tack east from Southern California for opportunities in New York and Kentucky, he made sure to first talk with John Sadler, trainer of Flightline. Prat had ridden the colt in his first three starts, including an 11 1/2-length victory in the Grade 1 Malibu on Dec. 26, and didn’t want to lose the mount.
“I wasn’t going to leave if I couldn’t ride the horse,” Prat said.
