Keeneland Barn Notes — Wednesday, Oct. 27

By Amy Owens —-

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 27 – CLOSING WEEK

Keeneland’s 17-day Fall Meet runs through Saturday.
Post time for the first race each day is 1 p.m. ET.

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· CODE OF HONOR TOPS FIELD OF NINE FOR CLOSING-DAY HAGYARD FAYETTE

· POINT ME BY HEADLINES FIELD OF 13 FOR BRYAN STATION

· MY PRANKSTER LOOMS LARGE IN FIELD OF EIGHT FOR BOWMAN MILL

· KEENELAND ICON MR. BASSETT TURNS 100

· FALL MEET LEADERS

· FALL MEET SPECIAL EVENTS

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CODE OF HONOR TOPS FIELD OF NINE FOR CLOSING-DAY HAGYARD FAYETTE

Two-time Grade 1 winner Code of Honor tops a field of nine 3-year-olds and older runners entered Wednesday for the 64th running of the $200,000 Hagyard Fayette (G2) on Saturday, the final day of the 17-day Fall Meet. The Hagyard Fayette is the featured event of the 10-race card, which includes the $150,000 Bryan Station and $150,000 Bowman Mill.

The Hagyard Fayette, scheduled for 1 1/8 miles over the main track, will go as the ninth race with a 5:16 p.m. ET post time. First post is 1 p.m.

The stakes will mark the final start of Code of Honor’s career. Owned and bred by W.S. Farish, Code of Honor at 3 won the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) via disqualification and captured the Travers (G1). Winner of a total of six graded stakes in his career, he was second in the 2019 Kentucky Derby (G1).

Trained by Shug McGaughey, the 5-year-old by Noble Mission (GB) comes into the Hagyard Fayette off a fourth-place finish in the Woodward (G1) at Belmont on Oct. 2. Code of Honor worked Monday at Keeneland, covering 4 furlongs in :49.60 over a fast track.

Tyler Gaffalione, the Fall Meet’s leading rider, will have the mount Saturday on Code of Honor and break from post seven.

Also figuring to attract attention in the race are Night Ops, Sleepy Eyes Todd and the 3-year-old King Fury.

Steve Landers Racing’s Night Ops, second in the Ben Ali (G3) here this spring, has posted a 7-0-4-2 mark in 2021 and exits a fourth-place finish in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) on Sept. 4 in his most recent start. Trained by Brad Cox, Night Ops will be ridden by Florent Geroux and break from post four.

Thumbs Up Racing’s Sleepy Eyes Todd, who went from last in a 12-horse field to win the Lafayette here last fall on the Breeders’ Cup undercard, was second to Art Collector in the Charles Town Classic (G2) in his most recent start.

An earner of more than $2 million, Sleepy Eyes Todd finished fifth in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) and 10th in the $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1) before returning to the U.S. in April. Trained by Miguel Silva, Sleepy Eyes Todd will break from post position one and be ridden by Ry Eikleberry.

Fern Creek Stables and Three Chimneys Farm’s King Fury enters Saturday’s race off a 13-length victory in the Bourbon Trail on Sept. 25 at Churchill Downs. Trained by Kenny McPeek, King Fury won the Lexington (G3) here this spring. King Fury will break from post six and be ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr.

A total of 10 3-year-olds have won the Hagyard Fayette with the most recent being Blame in 2009.

The field for the Hagyard Fayette, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Sleepy Eyes Todd (Ry Eikleberry, 121 pounds), Manhattan Up (Chris Landeros, 121), Militarist (Martin Garcia, 121), Night Ops (Florent Geroux, 121), Independence Hall (Javier Castellano, 121), King Fury (Brian Hernandez Jr., 120), Code of Honor (Tyler Gaffalione, 121), Fort Peck (David Cohen, 121), Major Fed (Ricardo Santana Jr., 121).

POINT ME BY HEADLINES FIELD OF 13 FOR BRYAN STATION

Homewrecker Racing’s Point Me By, winner of the Bruce D. Stakes (G1) going a mile on the turf at Arlington on Aug. 14, tops a field of 13 3-year-olds entered Wednesday for Saturday’s 17th running of the $150,000 Bryan Station.

The Bryan Station, scheduled for a mile over the Keeneland turf course, will go as the eighth race on Saturday’s 10-race program with a 4:44 p.m. ET post time. First post is 1 p.m.

Trained by Eddie Kenneally, Point Me By has won two of four career starts and enters Saturday’s test off a seventh-place finish in the Franklin-Simpson (G2) at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 11.

Adam Beschizza has the mount and will break from post seven.

Scarlett Sky, winner of the Kentucky Utilities Transylvania (G3) here in April, will be making his first start since an off-the-board finish in the American Turf (G2) at Churchill Downs on May 1. Trained by Shug McGaughey, Scarlett Sky will break from post position nine and be ridden by Joel Rosario.

The field for the Bryan Station, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Hot Blooded (Miguel Mena, 118 pounds), In Effect (Florent Geroux, 118), Charles Chrome (Julien Leparoux, 118), Perfect Silent Cat (Luca Panici, 118), Hush of a Storm (Chris Landeros, 118), Like the King (John Velazquez, 118), Point Me By (Adam Beschizza, 122), Dyn O Mite (James Graham, 118), Scarlett Sky (Joel Rosario, 120), Yes This Time (Tyler Gaffalione, 120), Camp Hope (Brian Hernandez Jr, 118), Dreamer’s Disease (David Cohen, 118), Gallant Guy (Joe Talamo, 118).

MY PRANKSTER LOOMS LARGE IN FIELD OF EIGHT FOR BOWMAN MILL

Robert and Lawana Low’s My Prankster, a 10-length winner on debut at Saratoga in August, heads a field of eight 2-year-olds entered Wednesday for Saturday’s $150,000 Bowman Mill going 6 furlongs on the main track.

The Bowman Mill will go as the seventh race on Saturday’s 10-race program with a 4:12 p.m. ET post time. First post is 1 p.m.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, who owns the Keeneland record for most stakes victories with 59, My Prankster returns to the races after finishing fourth behind Jack Christopher in the Champagne (G1) on Oct. 2 at Belmont Park.

John Velazquez has the mount and will break from post seven.

The field for the Bowman Mill, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Roger McQueen (Adam Beschizza, 120 pounds), Chattalot (Brian Hernandez Jr., 118), Hope in Him (Javier Castellano, 118), Nakatomi (Tyler Gaffalione, 118), Lucky Shot (Florent Geroux, 118), Freelancer (James Graham, 118), My Prankster (John Velazquez, 118), Hungry Henry (Reylu Gutierrez, 118).

KEENELAND ICON MR. BASSETT TURNS 100

James E. “Ted” Bassett III – “Mr. Bassett” to his many friends and admirers at Keeneland, throughout Central Kentucky and around the world who cherish his regal demeanor and graciousness – has added another accomplishment to his extraordinary life.

On Tuesday, Oct. 26, he turned 100.

Bassett has been synonymous with Keeneland for more than half that time – 53 years in fact. After serving as Kentucky’s Director of State Police, he began working for the Keeneland Association in 1968 and was Keeneland President from 1970-1986 before becoming Chairman of the Board. In 2003, he was named a Keeneland Trustee and now is a Trustee Emeritus. Bassett still maintains an office at a cottage on the Keeneland grounds.

During Bassett’s involvement with Keeneland, the track grew from an afterthought on the nation’s racing calendar to one of the most prominent tracks in North America. Keeneland’s sales arm experienced similar growth over the decades, becoming a major international auction house with a clientele from around the world.

Bassett welcomed many famous guests to Keeneland that included then-California governor Ronald Reagan in 1969, Queen Elizabeth II in 1984 and actors Elizabeth Taylor and George Hamilton in 1986.

Bassett’s service to the Thoroughbred industry is unparalleled: former President of Breeders’ Cup Ltd. and Thoroughbred Racing Associations of America; member of The Jockey Club; Trustee of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, University of Kentucky Equine Research Foundation and Transylvania University; and former Chairman of Equibase and the Kentucky Horse Park.

He has numerous national and international honors for his service to Thoroughbred racing. In 1996, Bassett received an Eclipse Award of Merit for his lifelong contributions. In 2019, he was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame, joining a select group of industry titans recognized as Pillars of the Turf.

Meanwhile, Bassett steered significant fundraising efforts for many worthy causes inside and outside the horse industry in Central Kentucky. Among them:

· Acquiring the Calumet Farm Trophy Collection to prevent it from being auctioned after the legendary farm declared bankruptcy. The collection is housed at the Kentucky Horse Park’s International Museum of the Horse, which honored Bassett with an exhibit of his life in 2014.

· Establishing the University of Kentucky’s Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, the only scientific institute in the U.S. with nearly all faculty conducting full-time research in equine health and diseases. The Gluck Center’s mission is scientific discovery, education and dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of the health and well-being of horses.

· Building two YMCA facilities in Lexington and upgrading the longstanding facility on High Street.

· Constructing a new facility for the Central Kentucky Blood Center.

· Placing a statue of Sgt Reckless, a horse who carried ammunition for the Marine Corps during the Korean War, at the Kentucky Horse Park.

These are just a few of Bassett’s numerous accomplishments.

Bassett, who was born in Lexington, attended the prestigious Kent School in Connecticut and Yale University. A Marine infantry officer during World War II, he sustained injuries to his hand and knee during a tour in Okinawa that led to a Purple Heart for his service. He participated in the initial landing by Allied Forces on Japanese shores.

He met his wife, Lucy Gay (who died May 1, 2016), at her graduation party in Lexington in 1946. Her father, A.B. “Gus” Gay, was a founding member of the Keeneland Association and was a Keeneland Director for 48 years.

Ted and Lucy wed Dec. 2, 1950, and made their home in New York City, where he worked as a newsprint salesman. The couple moved back to Kentucky in 1954 to reside at her family’s Lanark Farm, and Ted took up tobacco farming for three years. (Lucy Bassett was an accomplished Thoroughbred breeder, who bred 10 stakes winners, including 2003 Breeders’ Cup Distaff-G1 winner Adoration.) The Bassetts had no children.

Stories of Bassett’s remarkable life and achievements with lessons in Keeneland’s history and traditions fill the book Keeneland’s Ted Bassett: My Life, his collaboration with award-winning writer Bill Mooney that was published in 2009.

Keeneland Select Handicapping Challenge. Sport of Kings, the free horse racing contest website, has this new free online handicapping contest for casual fans and serious horseplayers. Participants make mythical selections on two Keeneland races for each day of the meet. Two seats to the 2022 NTRA National Horseplayers Championship will be awarded. To sign up, click here.

Today

WINS-Day Challenge Sponsored by Malone’s. This is an inexpensive way for beginner handicappers to give contests a try. The contest has a $2,500-guaranteed pool. Enter for $10 at Wagering Central on the first floor Grandstand and place a mythical $2 win and place wager – no actual money required – on Keeneland races 3-8.

Thursday-Saturday

The new Keeneland Turf Pick 3 wager is offered on the final three turf races each race day. The minimum wager is $3 and will follow the same rules as the traditional Pick 3. The new wager has a 15 percent takeout, the same low takeout as Keeneland’s popular Pick 5 wager.

Friday and Saturday

The Hill. At this popular tailgating area, fans can watch and wager while enjoying the racing action from the Jumbotron and wagering tent, while food trucks and live music presented by The Burl create a festive atmosphere. No ticket or reservation is required for The Hill. Parking opens at 10 a.m. Live music and food trucks from noon to 4 p.m.

Saturday – Closing day

Sunrise Trackside (Special Halloween Edition). This free Saturday morning program is geared toward families and offers a unique view of Thoroughbreds during training hours. This Saturday, children are encouraged to wear Halloween costumes. They will enjoy fun Halloween treats, games and face painting (8-10 a.m.) and may participate in a costume contest hosted by Keeneland mascot Buckles (9:30 a.m.) A Paddock demonstration featuring the Headless Horsemen begins at 8:30 a.m. Fans can purchase coffee and donuts; the Keeneland Track Kitchen at the east end of the stable area (with no track view) is open for breakfast that includes “grab and go” and seating options. Mini tours of Keeneland are available at the Welcome Stand in the Paddock.

Hagyard Race to Give Campaign. Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, which sponsors the day’s $200,000 Hagyard Fayette (G2), is supporting Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA), a non-profit that benefits Thoroughbred aftercare organizations, all this month through its “Race to Give” campaign. To help, visit racetogive.org. At Keeneland on Oct. 30, fans may donate wagering tickets by dropping them in the “Race to Give” donation box inside the Grandstand East Gate entrance. Funds will go directly to TCA.

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