Keeneland’s opening day of the Fall Meet makes the grade on several fronts. The 50-cent Late Pick 3 encompasses 31 entries and the Grade 2 Ogden Phoenix at 6F, Grade 2 Jessamine at 1-1/16 miles on the turf and the Grade 1 Alcibiades at the same distance for 2-year-old fillies on the main track. Here’s a closer look:

KEE 7th race (4:12 P.M. EST) -- SIBELIUS, the beaten favorite in the G-2 Ogden Phoenix last year, rebounded with three consecutive stakes victories, capped by the Grade 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen in March. Now he must bounce back again after two sub-par efforts on his return to the states this summer. He starts fresh and his September work tab at Palm Meadows suggests he might do so. GULFSTREAM WAY is unproven in graded stakes company and only 1-for-8 this year, but he has blossomed for trainer Norm Casse since a $40,000 claim in May and at least is peaking while others in the race are not. He raced with no Lasix last out and just missed after a long duel with BANGO, who won his seventh stakes race at Churchill Downs and fifth at this distance. DOCTOR OSCAR, a wire-to-wire winner in his last three starts on Canterbury Downs’ main track by a combined 16-3/4 lengths, gets the class test today. He averaged a 98 Beyer in those three victories and warrants a long look for Pick 3 purposes.

KEE 8th race (4:44 P.M. EST) -- TIME TO DAZZLE did just that in her debut turf route at Woodbine. She saved ground from just off the pace under a snug hold, angled to the 2-path at the top of the stretch and ran away from the pace-setting runner-up. TOUPIE romped first out on dirt, then ran second to multiple stakes winner No Nay Mets (3-4, $183k) in a triple key grass sprint against the boys that produced Laurel Futurity runaway winner Air Recruit. SMOOTH WAVES ran 3/5 of a second faster than older MSW boys on the same card at Kentucky Downs to romp at one mile; however, the 11 rivals she faced have yet to produce a speed figure above 56. PHAROAH’S WINE gets a spot on the ticket after she showed marked improvement in her third start and ‘finished strong’ to hold off the late runners to break her maiden.

KEE 9th race (5:16 P.M. EST) -- BRIGHTWORK won at four distances in as many starts, repelled troubled favorite Ways And Means in the Grade 1 Spinaway at Saratoga, now goes a route of ground for the first time off a pair of fast 4F works over the track. His sire, Outwork, won the G-1Wood Memorial at 1-1/8 miles. V V’S DREAM handled the stretch-out in distance with flying colors, making an eye-catching, 3-wide move at the 5/16s pole to win the G-2 Pocahontas going away at one mile. EMERY lived up to the hype in his 6F debut at Saratoga and must be respected for a high-percentage barn with the 2-year-old, sprint-to-route and ‘repeat’ angles.

Suggested 50-Cent Ticket
KEE 7th Race: 3, 4, 9
KEE 8th Race: 2, 5, 8
KEE 9th Race: 5, 6, 7
Cost: $13.50