Three Stakes Top Keeneland Opening Day Card

LEXINGTON, KY – Keeneland’s card this Friday serves up a triple-punch of stakes offerings, including a Breeders’ Cup (G1) champ returning to the site of past glory, as the track celebrates Opening Day for its 2021 meet.

First post time for Friday’s 10-race program that opens the 15-day Spring Meet is 1:05 PM Eastern.

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Fire At Will Headlines Transylvania

Three Diamonds Farm’s Fire At Will, winner of last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) here, will face five rivals in Friday’s 33rd running of the $150,000 Kentucky Utilities Transylvania (G3) for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles on the turf. 

The Transylvania will go as the ninth race with a 5:30 PM post time. 

Trained by Mike Maker, who saddled Field Pass to a victory in the 2020 Transylvania, Fire At Will returns to the turf after finishing eighth in the Fountain of Youth (G2) on dirt in his most recent start. Tyler Gaffalione has the mount and will break from post position four. 

Top threats to Fire At Will could come from Bantry Farms’ Barrister Tom, winner of the More Than Ready Juvenile at Kentucky Downs last fall, and Stuart Janney III’s Scarlett Sky, runner-up in the Palm Beach at Gulfstream Park in his most recent start. 

Trained by Michael Ewing, Barrister Tom will be making his 2021 debut and break from post 5 under Drayden Van Dyke.  

Joel Rosario has the mount on Scarlett Sky and will break from post 1 for trainer Shug McGaughey, who won the 2011 Transylvania with Air Support. 

The field for the Transylvania, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Scarlett Sky (Rosario, 118 pounds), Palazzi (Chris Landeros, 120), Breadman (Luis Saez, 118), Fire At Will (Gaffalione, 123), Barrister Tom (Van Dyke, 120), and Earls Rock (Florent Geroux, 120).

My Girl Red Tops Field of Seven for Beaumont

Erich Brehm’s My Girl Red, stylish winner of last summer’s Sorrento (G2) at Del Mar, headlines a field of seven 3-year-old fillies entered Monday for Friday’s 36th running of the $150,000 Beaumont (G3) Presented by Keeneland Select. 

Run over the Beard Course of 7 furlongs, 184 feet, the Beaumont offers 17 points toward the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) on a 10-4-2-1 scale to the first- through fourth-place finishers. 

The Beaumont will go as the afternoon’s eighth race with a 4:57 PM post time.

Trained by Keith Desormeaux, My Girl Red will be making her 2021 debut on Friday. James Graham will be aboard for the first time and break from post 1. 

Two fillies coming out of Florida may provide challenges to My Girl Red. 

West Point Thoroughbreds, John Ballantyne, William Freeman and Michael Valdes’ Lady Traveler finished second in the Forward Gal (G3) at Gulfstream in her most recent start on dirt. Trained by Dale Romans, Lady Traveler will break from post 5 under Corey Lanerie. 

G. Watts Humphrey Jr.’s Farsighted, winner of the Any Limit at Gulfstream in her most recent start, returns to Keeneland where she broke her maiden last fall before running second in the Songbird on the Breeders’ Cup Future Stars Friday undercard. Julien Leparoux has the mount and will break from post 3. 

The field for the Beaumont, with riders and weights from the rail out, is: My Girl Red (Graham, 120 pounds), Slumber Party (Joel Rosario, 118), Farsighted (Julien Leparoux, 118), Amalfi Princess (Tyler Gaffalione, 118), Lady Traveler (Lanerie, 118), Cilla (Colby Hernandez, 118) and Twenty Carat (Luis Saez, 118). 

Fauci Gives Palisades Turf Sprint a Shot

Lindy Farms and Ice Wine Stable’s Fauci, never worse than second in 4 career starts, will begin his 2021 campaign Friday when he headlines a field of 10 3-year-olds entered Monday for the second running of the $100,000 Palisades Turf Sprint going 5 1/2 furlongs on the grass. 

The Palisades Turf Sprint will go as the seventh race Friday afternoon with a 4:24 PM post time. 

Trained by Wesley Ward, Fauci ran second to stablemates Golden Pal in the Skidmore at Saratoga and Outadore in the Juvenile Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs to close his 2020 campaign. 

Tyler Gaffalione has the mount on Fauci and will break from post position 8. 

Returning to Keeneland, where he won the Indian Summer Presented by Keeneland Select last October, is Kristin Boice and Marylou Holden’s Bodenheimer. 

Trained by Valorie Lund, Bodenheimer closed 2020 with an eighth-place finish behind Golden Pal in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2) here. Brian Hernandez Jr. will be back aboard and break from post 2. 

The field for the Palisades Turf Sprint, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Lookin for Loki (Mitchell Murrill, 118 pounds), Bodenheimer (Hernandez, 120), Chasing Artie (Joel Rosario, 118), Blameworthy (Florent Geroux, 118), Smokin’ Jay (Luis Saez, 118), Rustler (Corey Lanerie, 118), Unitedandresolute (James Graham, 118), Fauci (Gaffalione, 118), Lock Up (Drayden Van Dyke, 118) and J C’s Champ (Emmanuel Esquivel, 118).