Morton Fink’s Wise Dan, the 2012 Horse of the Year, tops a
list of 22 horses nominated for the 25th running of the Grade 1, $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile
to be run April 12 at Keeneland.
Trained by Charles Lopresti, the six-year-old son of Wiseman’s Ferry is expected to make
his 2013 debut in the Maker’s 46 Mile that drew among its nominees the race’s
defending champion, Data Link (War Front), and last-out Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile winner Suggestive Boy (Easing
Along). Wise Dan was last seen capping off a four-race win streak in the
Breeders’ Cup Mile.
The chestnut gelding clocked three-quarters on Friday in 1:12 2/5 over
Keeneland’s Polytrack in advance of his seasonal bow.
Trainer Darrin Miller sent Big
Blue Spirit out to work five furlongs in 1:04 3/5 on Saturday at the Lexington,
Kentucky, track. The Invincible Spirit four-year-old opened 2013 with an
allowance win at Gulfstream Park and is nominated to both the Maker’s 46 Mile
and Grade 3, $100,000 Shakertown one day later. Big Blue Spirit has yet to face
stakes company.
Stablemate Havelock, nominated to the Shakertown following a fourth-place
finish in last year’s edition, logged a half-mile in :50 1/5 on Saturday for
Miller.
Also nominated to the Maker’s 46 Mile are last year’s respective second- and
third-place finishers in the race, Turallure and Doubles Partner, though the
latter just ran fourth on Saturday in the Grade 2 Mervin H. Muniz Jr Handicap at
Fair Grounds.
The Maker’s 46 Mile is one of four Grade 1 races during the
second weekend of Keeneland’s spring meet that is highlighted by the 89th running of the
Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes on April 13.
Trainer Chad Brown sent out Noble Tune on Sunday at Keeneland to work four
furlongs in company with unraced four-year-old Play Bull, with each going in :49
3/5. The Unbridled’s Song sophomore, who captured the Grade 3 Pilgrim last fall
at Belmont Park, is
pointing to the Blue Grass off a nose allowance win at Tampa Bay Downs on March
9. Noble Tune closed out 2012 with a second-place run in the Breeders’ Cup
Juvenile Turf
Brown also had Grade 2 victor Big Blue Kitten, a nominee to the Maker’s 46
Mile, working on the Polytrack Sunday. The five-year-old son of Kitten’s Joy
clocked a half in :49 1/5 in company with the French-bred, Grade 3-winning mare
Kya One, who was caught in the same time. Fractions on the work were :12 2/5, :24
and :36 2/5 before a five-furlong gallop out in 1:02 4/5.
Kya One has run fourth in a pair of Grade 3s down in Florida thus far this
year while Big Blue Kitten was fourth in the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale prior to
taking a Gulfstream Park optional claimer on March 3.
Two other Grade 1s are scheduled on Blue Grass
Day — the 25th running of the $300,000 Jenny Wiley at 1 1/16 miles on the turf
and the 12th running of the $300,000 Madison at seven furlongs on the main
Polytrack.
Defending champion Daisy Devine tops the list of 28 nominations to the Jenny
Wiley that also attracted the respective top four finishers from last fall’s
Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup — Dayatthespa, Centre Court, Better
Lucky and Samitar.
The Madison, for fillies and mares, won last year by
Eclipse Award winner Groupie Doll, attracted 23 nominations. Heading the list of
nominees is Holiday for Kitten, who captured the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America in
2011 but only competed twice last season. Also nominated are multiple Grade 2
victress Great Hot, fourth in the Grade 1 Santa Margarita on March 16, and
Rumor, winner of the Grade 3 Las Flores in her most recent start at Santa Anita
on March 10.
Two other graded stakes are on the Blue Grass Day
card — the 27th running of the Grade 3, $175,000 Commonwealth at seven furlongs on
the main Polytrack and the 17th running of the Shakertown going 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf.
The Commonwealth drew 33 nominations, headed by Delaunay, a daylight winner of
five consecutive stakes dating back to September, and
Grade 1 Malibu victor Jimmy Creed. Defending champion Perfect Officer headlines the 27 nominations to the Shakertown. Other proven turf
sprinters nominated to the Shakertown include Bridgetown, Chamberlain Bridge and
Regally Ready.
The 28th running of the Grade 2, $150,000 Beaumont drew 41 nominations to the Beard Course race of seven
furlongs, 184 feet on April 14 for three-year-old fillies.
Keeneland will kick off with Friday’s 25th running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Transylvania. The
1 1/16-mile grass contest is the first of 15 graded stakes during the
16-day spring meeting that opens Friday and runs through April 26.
Up With the Birds, winner of the Black Gold
at Fair Grounds on March 2 in his 2013 debut, tops a list of 10 three-year-olds
considered as probable starters according to Keeneland Racing Secretary Ben
Huffman. Trained by Malcolm Pierce, the son of Stormy Atlantic has won three
of four career starts, including a triumph in the Coronation Futurity in
November at Woodbine.
Other probables on Huffman’s list are stakes winners Admiral Kitten and Avare;
Kitten’s Joy runner-up Bambazonki; Grade 3 Southwest fourth-placer Channel Isle;
nice maiden victor Draw Two; Kitten’s Joy fifth Fire Guard; maiden scorer Jack
Milton; Rafale; and War Dancer.
Entries for the Transylvania will be taken Tuesday.
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