Keeneland Barn Notes — April 15

By Amy Owens —-

SUNDAY, APRIL 15

Keeneland’s 16-day Spring Meet runs through Friday, April 27, with racing
Wednesdays through Sundays. Post time for the first race each day is 1:05 pm. ET.

• VALADORNA HEADS FIELD OF 13 FOR FRIDAY’S HILLIARD LYONS DOUBLEDOGDARE
• BROWN TRIO FINE MORNING AFTER COOLMORE JENNY WILEY 1-2-3 FINISH
• STONESTREET LEXINGTON WINNER MY BOY JACK STAYING AT KEENELAND A BIT LONGER
• TRIPLE CHELSEA DOING WELL AFTER GIANT’S CAUSEWAY VICTORY
• PROSPECTIVE FIELD FOR UPCOMING STAKES
• SPRING MEET SPECIAL EVENTS
• SPRING MEET LEADERS

VALADORNA HEADS FIELD OF 13 FOR FRIDAY’S
HILLIARD LYONS DOUBLEDOGDARE

Stonestreet Stables’ multiple graded stakes-placed Valadorna headlines a field of 13 fillies and mares entered Sunday for Friday’s 24th running of the $100,000 Hilliard Lyons Doubledogdare (G3) run at 1 1/16 miles on the main track.

The Hilliard Lyons Doubledogdare will go as the ninth race on Friday’s 10-race program with a 5:30 p.m. ET post time. First post time Friday is 1:05 p.m.

Trained by Mark Casse, Valadorna was runner-up in the 14 Hands Winery Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Santa Anita to close her 2-year-old campaign in 2016. Last year she was third in the Rachel Alexandra (G2) in an abbreviated campaign

Brian Hernandez Jr. has the mount on Valadorna, who will break from post position nine.

Chief among her opposition are Jenda’s Agenda who has won four of five starts and is making her graded stakes debut, and WinStar Stablemates Racing’s Well Humored.

Racing for trainer Larry Jones along with his wife, Cindy, and Fox Hill Farms, Jenda’s Agenda comes into Friday’s race off an allowance victory at Oaklawn Park last month. Florent Geroux has the mount on Jenda’s Agenda, who will break from post position seven.

Well Humored, trained by Arnaud Delacour, has won three of four career starts, including the Wayward Lass at Tampa Bay Downs on Jan. 20 in her most recent start. Jose Ortiz has the mount, and she will break from post position 11.

The field for the Hilliard Lyons Doubledogdare, from the rail out with riders and weights, is Song of Spring (Joel Rosario, 118 pounds), Mines and Magic (Robby Albarado, 118), Girl Talk (Shaun Bridgmohan, 118), Promise of Spring (Gabriel Saez, 118), Ministry (Tommy Pompell, 118), Apologynotaccepted (Julien Leparoux, 118), Jenda’s Agenda (Geroux, 118), Julerette (Corey Lanerie, 118), Valadorna (Hernandez Jr., 118), Not Now Carolyn (Gary Stevens, 118), Well Humored (Ortiz, 118), Tapa Tapa Tapa (James Graham, 118) and Someday Soon (Ricardo Santana Jr., 118).

BROWN TRIO FINE MORNING AFTER COOLMORE JENNY WILEY 1-2-3 FINISH

Baldo Hernandez, assistant to the Spring Meet’s leading trainer, Chad Brown, reported the stable’s three horses that were first across the finish in Saturday’s $350,000 Coolmore Jenny Wiley (G1) were fine Sunday morning.

Peter M. Brant’s Sistercharlie (IRE), the 3-1 second choice, won the 1 1/16-mile turf race by 2¼ lengths with Michael Dubb, Bethlehem Stables and Gary Aisquith’s Fourstar Crook second at odds of 7-1. A neck behind in third was Martin S. Schwartz’s 5-1 choice Off Limits (IRE).

The Brown trifecta paid $76.10.

Brown is believed to be the first trainer in Keeneland history to saddle the first three finishers in a stakes.

The Coolmore Jenny Wiley victory also marked Brown’s fourth stakes win of the meet and his eighth win this season. He needs one more stakes victory to set the Keeneland record for the Spring or Fall Meet. For the Spring Meet, Brown is tied with Ben Jones (1948) and Todd Pletcher (2011) with a record four stakes wins. During the Fall Meet, D. Wayne Lukas (1994 and 1995), Mark Casse (2016) and Graham Motion (2016) each trained four stakes winners.

Sistercharlie, a 4-year-old daughter of Myboycharlie (IRE), had not raced since July 8, when she was second to stablemate New Money Honey in the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1). That was another race in which Brown runners took the top three spots. He also sent out third-place finisher Uni (GB).

The Coolmore Jenny Wiley winner also gave Brant his second victory in two days. Brant is a partner in the ownership of Pacific Wind, who won a 1-mile allowance race on dirt Friday by 8¼ lengths. Brant owns the 3-year-old Curlin filly with Joe Ciaglia’s Ciaglia Racing, Sharon Alesia and Dominic Savides.

Sistercharlie was ridden by John Velazquez, who scored his 50th Keeneland stakes victory. Velazquez is sixth on the list of leading jockeys by stakes victories, which is led by Pat Day’s 95.

Brown also won the Coolmore Jenny Wiley in 2015 with Ball Dancing. His other stakes wins during the 2018 Spring Meet are the April 6 Kentucky Utilities Transylvania (G3) with Analyze It, April 7 Toyota Blue Grass (G2) with Good Magic and April 8 Appalachian (G2) Presented by Japan Racing Association with Rushing Fall.

He returned to his New York base following yesterday’s race.

John Oxley’s three-time Keeneland stakes winner La Coronel is in good shape after her fourth-place finish in the Coolmore Jenny Wiley, reported David Carroll, assistant to trainer Mark Casse.
“La Coronel cooled out beautifully and she shipped back to Churchill Downs last night,” Carroll said Sunday morning. “She ran a big race, and congratulations to the winner. She might run over Derby weekend, but I don’t know.”

STONESTREET LEXINGTON WINNER MY BOY JACK STAYING
AT KEENELAND A BIT LONGER

Don’t Tell My Wife Stables and Monomoy Stables’ My Boy Jack walked the shedrow Sunday morning, a day after his come-from-behind victory in the $200,000 Stonestreet Lexington (G3) that earned him a spot in the Churchill Downs starting gate for the $2 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) on May 5.

“He ate up everything last night and this morning he is very bright and acting like he didn’t even run,” said Julie Clark, assistant to trainer Keith Desormeaux. “He was a little tired after shipping here Wednesday, but now he is a happy horse.”

My Boy Jack picked up 20 points for his victory to give him 52 toward the Derby and put him safely among the top 20 point earners that will make up the field.

Clark said My Boy Jack likely would ship to Churchill Downs on Saturday, where he will give Desormeaux a Derby starter for the third consecutive year.

“We have a filly (Not Now Carolyn) coming in for the (Hilliard Lyons) Doubledogdare (G3) on Friday,” Clark said. “Even if she didn’t come, I’d like to stay here a few more days and let him chill out.”
Stonestreet Stables’ Telekinesis, second by a head to My Boy Jack in his third career start, is doing well the morning after the race, said David Carroll, assistant to trainer Mark Casse.

Carroll said Casse and the Stonestreet connections will determine where the son of Ghostzapper will run next.

“He ran a super race; we’re very proud of him,” Carroll said. “Beaten by a nice horse who was a lot more seasoned. He cleaned up his feed last night and jogged sound this morning.

“We’ll try to teach him to relax, and I think the game plan would be to keep him (racing) around two turns. It’s just a question of where that race would be.”

Greyvitos, owned by Triple B Farms, also is doing well after his fourth-place finish in the Stonestreet Lexington. He was grazing outside the stakes barn Sunday morning with groom and exercise rider Fernando Cano.

Trainer Adam Kitchingman said by phone that the Malibu Moon colt came out of the race in “excellent shape.”

“I’m very happy, he just got extremely tired yesterday,” Kitchingman said. “I’ve got a couple races in mind, but I just want to give him a few more days to make sure everything’s great, and then we’ll make a decision on what we’re going to do.”

TRIPLE CHELSEA DOING WELL AFTER GIANT’S CAUSEWAY VICTORY

Brad Grady’s Triple Chelsea is getting a little vacation after her victory Saturday in the $100,000 Giant’s Causeway (L) over European champion and 2017 race winner Lady Aurelia.

“She came out of the race great and will be going to (nearby) KESMARC (Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center) for four days to take advantage of the hyperbaric chamber,” trainer Joe Sharp said Sunday morning. “Then we will bring her back to the barn.”

Triple Chelsea gave Grady, Sharp and jockey Adam Beschizza their first Keeneland stakes victories.
“Adam really got to know her this winter at Fair Grounds,” Sharp said. “A couple of races back in the race against Finley’sluckycharm, he found himself on the lead and she would wait on horses. She needs to have a target and then she is very tough.”

Triple Chelsea may return to the races next month in the $70,000 Unbridled Sidney at Churchill Downs on May 12.

“We are undecided now, but that would be the logical spot,” Sharp said. “We will take a look at it.”

PROSPECTIVE FIELD FOR UPCOMING STAKES

$250,000 Dixiana Elkhorn (G2) (Entries taken Wednesday; race Saturday) – Probable: Big Bend (Tom Proctor), Bullards Alley (Tim Glyshaw), Call Provision (Chad Brown), Canessar (FR) (Arnaud Delacour), Danish Dynaformer (Roger Attfield), Hayabusa One (FR) (Peter Miller), Hunter O’Riley (James Toner), Itsinthepost (FR) (Jeff Mullins), One Go All Go (Scooter Dickey), Oscar Nominated (Mike Maker), Royal Son (Kellyn Gorder), Some in Tieme (BRZ) (Kenny McPeek).

SPRING MEET SPECIAL EVENTS

The Keeneland Library is paying tribute to Pierre Bellocq, the internationally celebrated artist better known as “Peb,” with the exhibit “Artistry of Peb: Fifty Years of Features” and a virtual exhibit on Keeneland.com titled “The Artistry of Peb.” “Artistry of Peb” showcases 18 of Bellocq’s features from The Morning Telegraph and Daily Racing Form spanning the mid-1950s to the mid-2000s. This work solidified Peb’s renown as an artistic commentator of the Thoroughbred racing industry. The Keeneland Library is free and open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday.
Official Keeneland Tours – Keeneland offers a selection of guided tours, including Behind-the-Scenes Racing Tours and a Backstretch Tour and Day at the Races. On Saturdays during Sunrise Trackside, free guided tours begin every 20 minutes from the Paddock and Walking Ring from 7:30-10 a.m.
 
SPRING MEET LEADERS
Through April 14 (7 days of 16-day season)
Jockey Starts Wins 2nd 3rd Purses

Corey Lanerie 40 8 5 1 $468,526
Jose Ortiz 51 7 7 8 $1,096,536
Joel Rosario 24 6 6 5 $376,776
Florent Geroux 32 6 5 3 $522,362
Javier Castellano 14 5 3 1 $479,768
Gabriel Saez 18 5 1 1 $199,908
Brian J Hernandez Jr. 36 4 4 6 $450,626

Trainer Starts Wins 2nd 3rd Purses

Chad Brown 16 8 3 2 $1,361,990
Wesley Ward 16 6 4 2 $370,890
Bret Calhoun 10 5 0 2 $384,340
Brad Cox 13 4 1 1 $454,624
Tom Amoss 11 3 1 2 $65,180
Larry Jones 6 3 1 0 $95,800

Owners Wins

Peter M. Brant* 2
Cobra Cooper Racing (Ted Cooper) 2
Michael Dubb* 2
Tom Durant 2
e Five Racing Thoroughbreds (Robert J. Edwards Jr.)* 2
Charles E. Fipke 2
G. Watts Humphrey Jr.* 2

*Includes partnerships.