Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Essential Quality, Fire At Will to run in weekend stakes
LEXINGTON, Ky. – It won’t take long for Keeneland Race Course to set a high bar for its 15-day spring meet when this historic track opens with a total of nine stakes Friday and Saturday.
A trio of stakes, all for 3-yearolds, anchor a 10-race Friday opener. Fire At Will, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, will return to the grass following a failed experiment on dirt, going postward in the traditional opening-day feature, the Grade 3, $150,000 Transylvania.
Also on tap Friday are the Grade 3, $150,000 Beaumont for 3-year-old fillies and the $100,000 Palisades Turf Sprint. Entries for opening day were drawn Monday.
Things were predictably quiet here early Monday as many stables continue to transition from their winter quarters. Essential Quality, the reigning divisional champion and lukewarm favorite for the May 1 Kentucky Derby, was among the horses scheduled to arrive later in the day from Fair Grounds.
Essential Quality, a gray Godolphin homebred, figures as a solid favorite in the annual spring showcase, the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes, a 100-40-2010 Derby points qualifier that will be one of six graded races run here Saturday. Luis Saez, fresh from winning the Dubai World Cup with Mystic Guide for Godolphin on Saturday, has a return call on Essential Quality from trainer Brad Cox.
At least seven other 3-yearolds are expected for the $800,000 Blue Grass, those being Hidden Stash, Highly Motivated, Hush of a Storm, Keepmeinmind, Rombauer, Sittin On Go, and Tarantino.
Hush of a Storm, scratched from the Jeff Ruby Steaks on Saturday by trainer Bill Morey Jr., blew out for the 1 1/8-mile Blue Grass with a five-furlong company breeze in 59.80 seconds Monday.
Tarantino will be wheeling right back after being eased as the favorite in the Ruby following a terrible start, trainer Rudy Brisset said. Drayden Van Dyke, who won the Ruby on Like the King, has the mount on Tarantino.
The other Saturday stakes are the Grade 1 Ashland, Grade 1 Madison, Grade 2 Appalachian, Grade 2 Shakertown, and Grade 3 Commonwealth. The Ashland is expected to match top Kentucky Oaks contenders in Malathaat and Simply Ravishing.
The spring meet normally opens with a three-day weekend, but the track will be dark Sunday because of the Easter holiday. Last year, the April spring meet was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, with a five-day July meet eventually being held without fans as most of the major spring stakes were made up. The fall meet in October went on as scheduled, albeit with the public again being denied admission.
This meet marks the first for Shannon Arvin as president of Keeneland. Arvin became the first female president in track history, taking over for the retired Bill Thomason on Jan. 1. Likewise, this is the first meet for Gatewood Bell as vice president of racing.
The start of Arvin’s tenure coincides with the partial easing of attendance restrictions. The public will be back, albeit in limited numbers, after ticketing for most dates sold out quickly when offered online earlier this month.
“We have missed our fans as much as they’ve missed Keeneland,” Arvin said in a recent press release.
Spring might well have arrived in this region, but fans will need to bundle up nonetheless. Even with sunshine in the forecast, the projected high temperature is only 48 for Friday and 63 for Saturday.
In all, 18 stakes worth $4.1 million will be contested at a meet that runs through April 23. The Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile on April 9 and the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on April 10 are among the top offerings after opening weekend.
Besides the three stakes, the Friday opener also includes a pair of $60,000 maiden-specials for 2-year-olds (races 1 and 3). Wesley Ward, as always, figures to take a lot of beating in both.
First post throughout the meet is 1:05 p.m. Eastern, with TVG providing extensive coverage every day.