Keeneland April 21 Barn Notes

By Amy Owens —-

FRIDAY, APRIL 21

Keeneland’s 15-day Spring Meet runs through Friday, April 28, with racing
on Wednesdays through Sundays. Post time for the first race each day is 1:05 p.m. ET.

• KENTUCKY DERBY CONTENDERS IRAP, PRACTICAL JOKE, TAPWRIT WORK
• DADDYS LIL DARLING, TEQUILITA WORK TOWARD KENTUCKY OAKS
• KENTUCKY DERBY CANDIDATE GIRVIN COMES TO KEENELAND
• GALLOPING OUT
• SPRING MEET SPECIAL EVENTS
• SPRING MEET LEADERS

KENTUCKY DERBY CONTENDERS IRAP, PRACTICAL JOKE, TAPWRIT WORK

Reddam Racing’s Irap, upset winner of the Toyota Blue Grass (G2) here on April 8, put in the first of two scheduled works for the $2 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) on May 6 by covering a mile in 1:44 Friday morning. (Click here for a video of the work.)

With Julien Leparoux aboard, Irap worked over a fast track after the morning track renovation break.
Timed from the seven-eighths pole, Irap started off at a two-minute lick with fractions of :15 and :29 and then produced splits of :41.20, :53, 1:06, 1:30 and the mile in 1:44.

“I thought he went great,” trainer Doug O’Neill said. “Julien was happy with it and Irap switched leads right on cue and finished well. I do that a lot with my two-turn horses. It was a good piece of work.”

Friday marked the first time O’Neill had seen Irap since the Tiznow colt finished fourth in the Sunland Derby (G3) at Sunland Park on March 26.

“He looks phenomenal,” said O’Neill, who used Keeneland as his prime training base last spring with champion and eventual Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist. “We love it here at Keeneland. This brings back a lot of good memories. It made a lot of sense to stay here because there are a lot of options with the (all-weather) training track. It worked last year and it was a no-brainer to stay here.”

O’Neill was scheduled to return to California Friday. He will be back at Keeneland next Friday when Irap puts in his next work.

“(Jockey) Mario (Gutierrez) will work him next week,” O’Neill said. “It will be pretty much as the same as today with the two-minute lick and then three-quarters.”

For Nyquist’s final pre-Derby work last year, O’Neill had the colt work before the first race of that afternoon’s program.

“I’d love to do the same thing this year, but we had a little more clout last year,” O’Neill said of the Eclipse Award-winning and multiple Grade 1 winner Nyquist. “That is when the track is at its best.”

O’Neill said Irap would ship to Churchill Downs April 29 or 30.

Also after the renovation break, Toyota Blue Grass runner-up Practical Joke, with Fernando Rivera aboard, worked a half-mile in :49.80 in company with Grade 3 winner Ticonderoga for trainer Chad Brown. (Click here for a video of the work.)

Keeneland clockers caught the Into Mischief colt in fractions of :12.60, :24.80, :37.40, :49.80 and out in 1:01.60.

“He worked fine,” Brown said. “He worked an easy half, and I was happy with what I saw. He’s moving sound and happy. He’ll have a serious work next Friday at Churchill, weather permitting.”

Brown said Practical Joke, owned by Klaravich Stable and William H. Lawrence, would ship to Churchill on Monday. He is pleased with how Practical Joke has fared this month at Keeneland, saying, “The horse is full of himself. His energy level is great.”

“Since he arrived at Keeneland, he’s loved it here,” Brown said. “That’s why we kept him here a little longer after the race.”

Brown said Ticonderoga, fourth in the Transylvania (G3) Presented by Keeneland Select on April 7, would return to New York and possibly be pointed to a race in late May.

Bridlewood Farm, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Robert V. LaPenta’s Tapwrit and workmate Wissam were the first horses on the track following the renovation break. They jogged the short distance to the finish line before turning around and starting to gallop. (Click here for a video of the work.)
With Jose Ortiz aboard Tapwrit and Romain Techer on the maiden Wissam, the pair eased into the move with an opening quarter mile of :25 and cruised in tandem through the stretch. With Ortiz giving Tapwrit mild encouragement in the closing strides, they finished the five furlongs in 1:01.40. Tapwrit left his workmate behind in a strong gallop out of 1:14.80.

“We were looking for a good maintenance drill,” said Ginny DePasquale, Todd Pletcher’s assistant who is handling his Keeneland string. “He galloped out very well and Jose was very pleased. He had to keep him focused a little bit, but that is just him. That is why he was tapping him at the end. He has come a long way but you have to tell him, ‘This is what we are doing today.’ You have to keep him focused.”

DADDYS LIL DARLING, TEQUILITA WORK TOWARD KENTUCKY OAKS

Two candidates for the $1 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) on May 5 at Churchill Downs put in works minutes apart at Keeneland before the Friday morning renovation break.

Normandy Farm’s Daddys Lil Darling, runner-up in the Central Bank Ashland (G1) here on April 8, worked a half-mile in :47.40 with jockey Robby Albarado aboard for trainer Kenny McPeek.

Clockers caught Daddys Lil Darling in fractions of :23.60, :47.40 and out five furlongs in 1:00.80.
“She went really good; a nice maintenance move,” said Albarado, who has ridden the daughter of Scat Daddy in her past two starts. “I hope she gets some pace to run at in the Oaks. If so, she will be fine. I am positive she will be staying on at the end.”

McPeek said Daddys Lil Darling would have her final pre-Oaks work at Keeneland next weekend and then go to Churchill Downs the following Monday, May 1.

“She has trained and run there,” McPeek said of the winner of last September’s Pocahontas (G2) at Churchill. “(Once at Churchill) she will jog and gallop and school in the paddock.”

Dorothy Matz’s Tequilita, a homebred daughter of Union Rags, worked 5 furlongs in 1:02.40 under exercise rider Jo Saville for trainer Michael Matz.

Matz expressed satisfaction with the work for Tequilita, her second at Keeneland since winning the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) on April 1.

“She will go to Churchill on Wednesday and have her final work for the Oaks there,” the trainer said.

KENTUCKY DERBY CANDIDATE GIRVIN COMES TO KEENELAND

Brad Grady’s Girvin, winner of the Risen Star (G2) and Louisiana Derby (G2), will be spending the next few days at Keeneland to continue training for the $2 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) on May 6.

“We are going to utilize the (all-weather) training track the next couple of days,” said trainer Joe Sharp, who brought Girvin to Keeneland from the Trackside Training Center in Louisville.

Girvin, who worked a half-mile in :47.80 at Trackside last Saturday and was scheduled to work again tomorrow at Trackside or Churchill Downs, headed 75 miles east in anticipation of heavy storms that are forecast for Louisville the next few days.

“We could push his work back to Monday,” Sharp said. “We are going to watch the weather.”

GALLOPING OUT

Several Keeneland sales graduates received honors at the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders’ Annual Kentucky-Bred Champions Awards Luncheon at Keeneland on Thursday: Arrogate (Horse of the Year and 3-Year-Old Male), Classic Empire (2-Year-Old Male), Champagne Room (2-Year-Old Filly), Beholder (Older Dirt Female), Drefong (Sprinter) and Special Skills (Steeplechase Horse). Arrogate’s breeder, Clearsky Farms, received the P.A.B. Widener Trophy as KTOB Breeder of the Year.
Clearsky consigned Arrogate to Keeneland’s 2014 September Yearling Sale, where owner Juddmonte Farms purchased him for $560,000. (Click here for a video of Arrogate in the Keeneland sale ring.) The colt by Unbridled’s Song received the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male of 2016 when he won the Travers (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). This year, Arrogate won the Pegasus World Cup (G1) and Dubai World Cup (G1). He has earned $17,084,600. …
Trainer Steve Manley recorded his first Keeneland victory when Go Vo won the eighth race Thursday under Robby Albarado. Manley owns Go Vo, a 5-year-old Forestry gelding who took the 6-furlong race by 1¾ lengths in 1:10.48.

SPRING MEET SPECIAL EVENTS

Through December
Keeneland Library exhibit “Man o’ War: Images from the Keeneland Library Collections.” Exhibit features 16 shots of Man o’ War during his racing career and years at stud by Charles Christian Cook, Joseph Alvie Estes, Robert Lee McClure and Bert Clark Thayer. The Library is open to the public Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. During the 2017 Spring Meet, it also is open on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The Library’s online exhibit “Man o’ War: In Others’ Words” tells the story of Man o’ War’s life, accomplishments and influence through images from its collection that are accompanied by quotations from the horse’s connections, contemporary sports writers and modern biographers.

Friday, April 21
Keeneland Shop’s Milliners Corner presents Polly Singer Designs and Dorfman Pacific adjacent to the Walking Ring from 9 a.m. to the last race.
Tailgating on The Hill. Keeneland’s popular tailgate lot, located adjacent to the Keene Barn & Entertainment Center, features local food trucks, a jumbo television screen, wireless wagering and wagering terminals, race-day programs, a Keeneland Shop kiosk and free shuttles to the track. BETologists will be available to answer fans’ questions.
Jockey Autograph Signing. Fans can buy these items to have signed by retired and active jockeys from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. adjacent to the Paddock to benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund: Keeneland Spring Meet poster ($25), Keeneland hat ($15) and Keeneland program ($10). The PDJF also will sell PDJF T-shirts.
Among those scheduled to appear are two Hall of Famers: Keeneland’s all-time leading rider, Pat Day, winner of the 1992 Kentucky Derby (G1) with Lil E. Tee, and two-time Derby winner Chris McCarron; Jean Cruguet, who rode Seattle Slew to victory in the 1977 Triple Crown; Kaye Bell, Jamie Bruin, Carl Faulconer, Michael Heath, Mike Manganello, John Oldham, Suzie Oldham, J.R. Parsley, Craig Perret, Mickey Solomone and Kaoru Tsuchiya.

Saturday, April 22
Sunrise Trackside Keeneland shares a special side of Thoroughbred racing that is worth getting up early to enjoy. Sponsored by LEX18, Sunrise Trackside is a free, family-friendly event with activities for all ages: Breakfast With the Works features breakfast ($8) and trackside commentary (7-8:30 a.m.) while Thoroughbreds train on the main track; children’s activities in the Kids Club Corner (7-9 a.m.); Keeneland tours (7:30-10 a.m.); Paddock demonstration by the Lexington Mounted Police Unit (9 a.m.); trackside handicapping seminar with Paddock Host Katie Gensler and racing analyst Tom Leach (11:30 a.m.); and Q&A session with jockey Shaun Bridgmohan in the Paddock (12:05 p.m.).

Bridgmohan scored the 3,000th victory of his career on April 1 at Fair Grounds.

Keeneland Shop’s Milliners Corner presents Polly Singer Designs and Dorfman Pacific adjacent to the Walking Ring from 9 a.m. to the last race.

Tailgating on The Hill. Keeneland’s popular tailgate lot, located adjacent to the Keene Barn & Entertainment Center, features local food trucks, a jumbo television screen, wireless wagering and wagering terminals, race-day programs, a Keeneland Shop kiosk and free shuttles to the track. One of Central Kentucky’s favorite bluegrass bands will perform from 12-4 p.m. BETologists will be available to answer fans’ questions.

Sunday, April 23
Keeneland Shop’s Milliners Corner presents Dorfman Pacific adjacent to the Walking Ring from 9 a.m. to the last race.
Military Day at the Races Presented by Marathon. All active-duty, reserve, veterans and military families receive free general admission with a military I.D., DD214, veteran I.D. or other form of Military I.D. at any pass gate. The Military Family Zone in the North Terrace will offer free food, live music and more from noon to 4 p.m. ET. In honor of Month of the Military Child, Keeneland will have activities for children throughout the day.

SPRING MEET LEADERS
Through April 20 (nine days of racing)
Jockey Starts Wins 2nd 3rd Purses

Joel Rosario 42 10 6 8 $980,910
Javier Castellano 26 10 3 2 $679,108
Julien Leparoux 43 8 6 7 $1,037,775
Corey Lanerie 41 6 8 5 $628,325
Robby Albarado 50 5 5 7 $552,166

Trainer Starts Wins 2nd 3rd Purses

Wesley Ward 33 8 4 5 $361,498
Chad Brown 15 6 4 2 $721,377
Kiaran McLaughlin 12 6 2 0 $525,460
Mark Casse 27 5 3 3 $540,428
Todd Pletcher 8 5 0 0 $418,687
John Hancock 17 4 2 1 $152,928

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