Keeneland Barn Notes — March 29

By Amy Owens —-

THURSDAY, MARCH 29
Keeneland’s 16-day Spring Meet opens Friday, April 6, and runs through Friday, April 27,
with racing Wednesdays through Sundays. Post time for the first race each day is 1:05 p.m. ET.

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• FIELD OF 11 LIKELY FOR $1 MILLION TOYOTA BLUE GRASS
• PROSPECTIVE FIELDS FOR OPENING WEEKEND STAKES
• FINCHER PREPARING FOR KEENELAND DEBUT
• GALLOPING OUT

FIELD OF 11 LIKELY FOR $1 MILLION TOYOTA BLUE GRASS

eFive Racing Thoroughbreds and Stonestreet Stables’ champion Good Magic and Albaugh Family Stables’ Free Drop Billy, winner of last fall’s Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1), are likely to head the lineup of 11 horses to pass the entry box Tuesday for the 94th running of the $1 million Toyota Blue Grass (G2).

The 1 1/8-mile dirt test on April 7 offers 170 points on a scale of 100-40-20-10 to the first four finishers on the Road to the $2 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) to be run May 5.

Keeneland Stakes Coordinator Tiffany Bourque has 11 horses listed as probable for the race, one of five graded stakes on April 7.

Good Magic, trained by Chad Brown, will attempt to join Chief’s Crown as the only horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and the Blue Grass. In his lone start since his Breeders’ Cup victory at Del Mar, Good Magic finished third in the Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park on March 3.

Free Drop Billy, third in the Gotham (G3) in his most recent start, will seek to join Round Table and Dullahan as the only horses to sweep the Breeders’ Futurity and Blue Grass. Two-time Toyota Blue Grass winner Dale Romans, who conditioned Dullahan to his Keeneland sweep, trains Free Drop Billy.

Other graded stakes winners expected to be entered are Greg Hall and SAYJAY Racing’s Blended Citizen, John Oxley’s Flameaway and China Horse Club International, WinStar Farm and SF Racing’s Quip.

Other probable entrants include Determinant, Gotta Go, Heartfullofstars, Machismo, Tiz Mischief and Zing Zang. Sporting Chance, winner of last year’s Hopeful (G1), is considered as possible for the race.

Blended Citizen, winner of the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at Turfway Park on March 17, is tentatively scheduled to work Saturday for the race, weather permitting, according to Jack Sisterson, assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill.

O’Neill, who won last year’s Toyota Blue Grass with Irap, will attempt to join LeRoy Jolley and Ben Jones as the only trainers to win the race in consecutive years. Jolley did it with Honest Pleasure and For the Moment in 1976 and 1977. Jones did it in 1947 and 1948 with Faultless and Coaltown.

PROSPECTIVE FIELDS FOR OPENING WEEKEND STAKES

Fields are coming into shape for the other seven graded stakes on the April 6-8 opening weekend of Keeneland’s 2018 Spring Meet. Here are the probable and possible starters according to Stakes Coordinator Tiffany Bourque:

$150,000 KENTUCKY UTILITIES TRANSYLVANIA (G3) (Entries taken Monday; race Friday, April 6) – Probable: Admiralty Pier, Analyze It, Beer Pressure. Possible: Cash Call Kitten, Gidu (IRE), Inscom, Maraud, Rose’s Vision, Tigers Rule.
$500,000 CENTRAL BANK ASHLAND (G1) (Entries taken Tuesday; race Saturday, April 7) – Probable: Andina Del Sur, Monomoy Girl, Mrs Rocco. Possible: Eskimo Kisses, Patrona Margarita, Tyfosha.
$300,000 MADISON (G1) (Entries taken Tuesday; race Saturday, April 7) – Probable: American Gal, Finley’sluckycharm, Impasse, Lewis Bay, Miss Sunset, Tequilita, Unchained Melody. Possible: Cuddle Alert, Mines and Magic, Teresa Z.
$250,000 COMMONWEALTH (G3) (Entries taken Tuesday; race Saturday, April 7) – Probable: Conquest Windycity, Crewman, Eight Town, First Premio, Limousine Liberal, Warrior’s Club.
$200,000 SHAKERTOWN (G2) (Entries taken Tuesday; race Saturday, April 7) – Probable: Bucchero, Disco Partner, Flashaway, Recruiting Ready, Tombelaine, Will Call.
$200,000 APPALACHIAN (G2) PRESENTED BY JAPAN RACING ASSOCIATION (Entries taken Thursday, April 5; race Sunday, April 8) – Probable: Beach Waltz, Daddy Is a Legend, Dixie Moon, Heavenly Love, Lounge Act, Rushing Fall, Thewayiam (FR). Possible: Treasuring (GB).
$150,000 BEAUMONT (G3) PRESENTED BY KEENELAND SELECT (Entries taken Thursday, April 5; race Sunday, April 8) – Probable: Almond Roca, Criminal Mischief, Dream It Is, Gas Station Sushi, Good Move, In the Mood, Summer Sunday, Uppercut. Possible: Tyfosha.

FINCHER PREPARING FOR KEENELAND DEBUT

Chris Coleman and Brad King’s Kram, runner-up in Sunday’s Sunland Park Oaks, arrived at Keeneland on Wednesday and jogged on the training track Thursday for trainer Todd Fincher. Kram, who is not nominated to the Kentucky Oaks (G1), is being pointed to a 1 1/16-mile allowance race here April 19.

Fincher trains Sunland Derby (G3) winner Runaway Ghost for owner Joe Peacock. Sunday’s victory in that race earned Runaway Ghost 50 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby (G1) and ensured a spot in the starting gate for the 144th running of the race on May 5.

“I plan to work him at Sunland once before we leave for Louisville and get there in time to maybe have two works before the Derby,” Fincher said Thursday morning before heading back to Sunland.

Fincher plans to return to Lexington April 4 and hopes to have his first Keeneland starter two days later.

“Last year was the first time I had come to the September Sale here,” said Fincher, who has 80 horses in his stable. “The 2-year-old colt I brought here with Kram is Myhotrodlincoln, and I hope he gets in opening day. He is from Verrazano’s first crop and we bought him for $65,000.”

GALLOPING OUT

Trainer Brad Cox said that Monomoy Stables and Michael Dubb’s Monomoy Girl is scheduled to work Sunday, weather permitting, for the $500,000 Central Bank Ashland (G1) on April 7, opening Saturday of Keeneland’s 2018 Spring Meet.

“Right now, she is on a Sunday schedule but it could be pushed back to Monday depending on the weather,” Cox said of the winner of four of five starts, including the Rachel Alexandra (G2) at Fair Grounds.