The Keeneland spring meeting gets underway on Friday with three stakes. (Photo credit: Keeneland .com)
The Keeneland spring meeting, which was wiped out by the pandemic last year gets underway on Friday with three stakes on an outstanding 10 race card.
The spring meet runs through April 23 and features 18 stakes including four Grade 1 races. Saturday’s $800,000 Toyota Blue Grass (G2) is a Road to the Kentucky Derby points race
The stakes action kicks off Friday with the $100,000 Palisades Turf Sprint at 5 ½ furlongs that drew a field of 10. The Wesley ward trained Fauci is the 2-1 morning line favorite. The colt makes his first start since running second in the Juvenile Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs over soft ground last September.
There is a hard freeze in the forecast for Thursday night where temperatures will drop into the 20’s. The forecast for Friday afternoon is for sunny skies and temperatures reaching 47 degrees.
The following race is the $150,000 Beaumont (G3) for three-year-old fillies going seven furlongs on the main track. The race is a Road to the Kentucky Oaks points race with 10-4-2-1 points at stake.
Friday’s $400,000 Ashland (G1) offers up 100-40-2-10 points toward entry into the Kentucky Oaks (G1) which will be held on April 30 at Churchill Downs.
The Beaumont drew a field of seven led by recent maiden winner Twenty Carat (5-2) from the Wesley Ward barn and Slumber Party (2-1), a 7 ½ length winner in her debut at Gulfstream Park for the Kelly Breen barn.
The $150,000 Transylvania (G3) is the ninth race on the card and drew a field of six three-year-olds that will go 1 1/16 miles on turf. Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) winner Fire At Will is the 9-5 morning line favorite.
The colt made his three-year-old debut on the main track at Gulfstream Park in the Fountain of Youth (G2) but faded to finish a well beaten eighth and returns to turf.
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Let’s head out to Keeneland for Friday’s featured race of the day:
Keeneland Race 8 The Beaumont Stakes G3 4:57 ET
7 Twenty Carat 5-2
1 My Girl Red 5-1
2 Slumber Party 2-1
3 Farsighted 4-1
Twenty Carat
The Ward trainee made her first two starts on the Tapeta at Turfway Park. She dueled for the early lead and drew away to break her maiden last out going 6 ½ furlongs, winning by 7 ¾ lengths as the chalk in a field of 12. Four have come out of that race to run back with one next out grad. Two back in her debut she took the field gate to wire to prevail by a neck, but she was DQ’d for interfering with a foe in the stretch and placed second. Wait for Nairobi was elevated up for the win and then came back to win the Cincinnati Trophy at Turfway Park in her next start and then was fifth in the Bourbonette Oaks when stretched out to two turns. She gets a jock upgrade to Saez and Ward has been very live this year, hitting at a 33% clip. The filly has worked quickly over the main track here and she is bred to like dirt, by Into Mischief out of a Bernardini mare.
My Girl Red
This filly ships in from the west coast for the Desormeaux barn. She was bumped and leaned on coming out of the gate in the Del Mar Debutante (G1) last out leaving her last. She started getting rank and was pulled up. She broke her maiden in her debut at Santa Anita going 4 ½ furlongs and then took the field gate to wire to win the Sorrento (G2) at Del Mar in her first start against winners. She returns off a seven-month layoff here for a barn that is 15% winners with runners coming back off a +180-day layoff. Solid works at Fair Grounds for her return.
Slumber Party
This gal was a smart looking maiden winner in her debut, taking the field gate to wire to win by 7 ½ lengths and earn the top last out speed fig. Ten she beat have come back to run with the runner up Pass the Champagne the lone next out winner, breaking her maiden on Feb. 27 with an 86 Beyer. Two others ran second next out. There is some early zip signed up so things will not be easy, but she looks as if she still has some upside for the Breen barn. She is by Malibu Moon out of the stakes winner Devilish Lady ($400,318). She has been working steadily at Palm Meadows since her debut. The main knock is the 2-1 morning line which seems light.
