Well-bred maiden Pico Entry opens fall meet with a bang

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The turf course was soft, owing to heavy overnight rain, but as far as Robby Albarado was concerned, everything was just right.

“There’s definitely some cut to it,” Albarado said after riding Pico Entry to a hard-earned victory Friday in the first race of the 17-day Keeneland fall meet. “But this horse got over it perfect.”

Pico Entry, a son of Point of Entry, raced neck-and-neck with Temple ahead of 10 other maidens for virtually the entire 1 1/16-mile trip, with Pico Entry finally prevailing by a head at a $32 win mutuel. The relatively slow final time of 1:47.25 was of no consequence to winning trainer Dale Romans, who seemed happier for his longtime clients – Frank Jones Jr., Frank Shoop, and Bill Pacella, who own and bred the 2-year-old colt – than himself.

“This is the fourth foal out of his mare, C. S. Royce,” Romans said. “The other three were all nice horses,” he added, referring to 2016 Preakness runnerup Cherry Wine and two stakeswinning fillies, Sweeping Paddy and C. S. Incharge. “That’s a pretty amazing produce record, and this one might be best of them all. He’s a good horse.”

Despite the overnight storm, and the sun popping out only occasionally, humidity lingered noticeably as the 10-race opener unfolded, and you couldn’t go from one burgoo stand to another without seeing someone sweat. Intermittent showers and highs in the mid-80s were forecast throughout a three-day weekend highlighted by the traditional FallStars Weekend stakes program that was to begin later Friday over a fast main track with the Grade 2 Phoenix and Grade 1 Alcibiades.

Shazier reps namesake

One of the longer shots in the Bourbon Stakes here Sunday is Shazier, a colt named for Ryan Shazier, the Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker who suffered a serious spinal injury in a game last December. Joe Bravo, who will ride the Cairo Prince colt for trainer Carlo Vaccarezza, will wear silks sporting the Steelers logo.

“They’re going to have the NBC show [that includes the Bourbon] on the TV in the Steeler locker room after their game Sunday” against Atlanta, said Vaccarezza, who became friends several years ago with Ryan Shazier through a mutual friend, Greg Nikolopolous, a Boca Raton, Fla., philanthropist who is one of the co-owners in the colt. “It’s pretty exciting.”

Shazier raced to his maiden victory in a Sept. 15 turf mile at Gulfstream Park and has trained well in the interim, Vaccarezza said.

“It looks like a wide-open race, so maybe we can get lucky,” he said. “It’d be great to win for Ryan.”

◗ In addition to the three stakes here Sunday, a stakescaliber, $73,000 allowance will be run earlier on a 10-race card when Big Dollar Bill, Phat Man, Guest Suite, and Senior Investment are part of a field of seven older horses in race 2 at 1 1/16 miles.

Big Dollar Bill is 2 for 2 over the Keeneland main track and comes favorably drawn in post 1 with Chris Landeros riding for his father-in-law, trainer Ian Wilkes.

◗ An oversubscribed field of 2-year-old turf fillies has been entered in the 10th and final Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In race of the fall meet, the Grade 2, $200,000 Jessamine, which headlines the Wednesday card as the seventh of eight races.

Fierce Scarlett, a highly impressive maiden winner last month on the Belmont Park turf for Chad Brown, could go favored when ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. In all, 19 were entered, with 16 being carded on the program and only as many as 14 allowed to start in the 1 1/16mile turf race.

◗ Rushing Fall, already a twotime stakes winner over the Keeneland course, heads a list of 10 3-year-old turf fillies invited next Saturday to the sixth and last Grade 1 race of the fall meet, the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.

Here are the other invitees to the 1 1/8-mile QE II: Beyond Blame, Capla Temptress, Daddy Is a Legend, Fatale Bere, Mission Impassible, Nyaleti, Pollara, Princess Warrior, and Secret Message.

◗ Baseball fans old enough to remember the last time the Milwaukee Brewers played in the World Series might get a kick out of the name of the No. 5 horse in the fifth race Sunday, a maiden 2-year-old colt trained by Kenny McPeek: Harvey Wallbanger, the collective nickname for the sluggers on the 1982 American League champions. Milwaukee, now in the National League, is currently making a serious playoff run at its next World Series.