LEXINGTON, KY – Wertheimer and Frere homebred Alda will start her 2021 campaign where 2020 concluded: at Keeneland.
Trained by Graham Motion, Alda finished 12th in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) going 1 mile. She did not return to the work tab until March 1 at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland, where she has breezed 6 times over the all-weather surface.
“This is what we have pointed her for,” Motion said of Friday’s $100,000 TVG Limestone Turf Sprint going 5 1/2 furlongs on the grass. “My intention was to shorten her up for her first start off the break.”
Winner of the Catch a Glimpse and runner-up in the Natalma (G1) at Woodbine last summer, Alda is scheduled to arrive at Keeneland Wednesday. She will be reunited with John Velazquez in Friday’s race.
The field with riders for the TVG Limestone Turf Sprint from the rail is: Inajiffy (Gabriel Saez); Threatlevelmidnite (Rafael Bejarano); Carimba (Irad Ortiz Jr.); Salvaje (Brian Hernandez Jr.); Igloo (Umberto Rispoli); New Boss (Adam Beschizza); Tobys Heart (Javier Castellano); Campanelle (Joel Rosario); Goin’ Good (Florent Geroux); Alda (Velazquez); Nimbostratus (Luis Saez); Phantom Vision (Tyler Gaffalione); and Navratilova (Julien Leparoux).
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