The Lead:
Keeneland's massive Blue Grass Day Saturday card includes Kentucky Derby prospects and 4 undercard stakes. My strongest opinion in the preliminaries is a pace play in the 7-furlong Madison, which goes as Race 9 of 11.

Horseplayers be sure to take part $10 Money-Back Special on all Kentucky Derby preps this season with 1/ST BET and Xpressbet. That includes Saturday's Blue Grass at Keeneland, Wood at Aqueduct and the Santa Anita Derby. There's also a $5,000 Exacta-Thon this Saturday on the Keeneland and Santa Anita programs.

​​Field Depth:
Grade 1 winner CLIQUOT is joined by Grade 2 winners MYSTIC LAKE, R DISASTER, PRAYING and GRAND JOB. ECLATANT and RAGTIME are Grade 3 winners, the latter G1-placed. On class it's a very even matchup considering CLICQUOT did her damage in 3-year-old restricted races.
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Pace:
Extremely hot. Win this on the front end vs. GRAND JOB, R DISASTER, PRAYING, MYSTIC LAKE and ECLATANT and you've run the gauntlet. A finisher should have a major chance at success.

Our Eyes:
Here are my horse-by-horse notes.

#1-ECLATANT: Returned from more than 7 months away with a razor-sharp Gulfstream allowance win and is set for the stakes re-rise. The 2025 Forward Gal winner may be best at GP, but her Keeneland allowance win during the ’24 Fall Meet always counts for something here. The Into Mischiefs excel in 7-furlong Keeneland stakes with a whopping 7 different winners. Getting Irad Ortiz Jr. for the first time won’t hurt the cause.

#2-STERLING SILVER: Blinkers go on this millionaire win machine with 11 victories and $1.4M banked. The New York-bred is proven in open company, but her 3: 0-0-0 local mark concerns given the horse-for-course nature that is Keeneland. She’s in consistently good form, so not sure why you make an equipment change on a 7-year-old with 38 trips to the post. Jose Ortiz rides for Anthony Margotta Jr.

#3-CLICQUOT: Grade 1 Cotillion winner makes her first start since a fourth-place effort in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Trainer Brendan Walsh comes off a big 2025 at Keeneland that included this filly’s maiden breaker in the Spring Meet over 7 furlongs. Track and trip are on her ledger, so can’t dismiss on the reduction in trip in a race that has a ton of speed otherwise. Flavien Prat rides.

#4-RAGTIME: Like Clicquot, she’s a 4-year-old returning off the bench and trimming the trip some after a third-place run in the 1-mile Chilukki. Her late-running sprint style was on display in winning the Dogwood and narrowly missing in Saratoga’s Test and Keeneland’s Raven Run. She’ll be flying late for Bill Mott and new rider John Velazquez with a big chance given the hot pace set-up.

#5-GRAND JOB: The faster early of the uncoupled Mott-trained pair, expect Gulfstream’s Inside Information winner to contest the front. The Justify mare has won 4 of 6 since departing Ireland in 2023, racing only a few times each season. Junior Alvarado hops off Ragtime and lands on her stablemate. Other pace pressure could tell the tale, however.

#6-R DISASTER: First of 2 Saffie Joseph Jr. trainees in the Madison, how can you fault a 14-for-16 mark in the exacta with 8 wins? She’s done it over multiple tracks sprinting so her first attempt at Keeneland may look a lot like the others. Tyler Gaffalione picks up the mount here, a Keeneland top-of-the-standings regular. She’ll be on or near the lead and it comes down to handling a ton of pressure over 7 furlongs, a little farther than her best.

#7-PRAYING: Keeneland sprint stakes veteran is back for her first start since fading in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Del Mar. She won the Myrtlewood here in the ’24 Fall Meet and returned last fall to win the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America over elders while just age 3. Robbie Medina puts Joel Rosario up as regular rider John Velazquez switches saddles to Ragtime on Saturday. She wants to be in the mix a length or two off the pacemakers, which could drag her along faster-than-desired in this particular scenario.

#8-MYSTIC LAKE: Another blistering pace player, the second Saffie Joseph Jr. charge in the Madison has won 6 of her last 7, the wins coming over 5 different tracks. She set the tone here last year and faded to fourth under Irad Ortiz Jr. She loses him to Eclatant and her recent pilot Flavien Prat to Clicquot, while picking up Luis Saez – who is a maestro in local 7-furlong races. Outside post may help with her early juice, but the overall pace pressure in this race is the biggest threat to all the speed.

Most Likely Exotics Contender:
RAGTIME gets a great pace set-up and is 6-for-6 in the money lifetime including over the track and distance. Her long list of triple-digit BRIS Late Pace Figures really stand out against this expected race flow.

Best Longshot Contender:
No huge prices projected, but 6-1 morning line on CLIQUOT certainly interests with 5-1 on the top choice.

Sending it in ($100 bankroll):
$70 win RAGTIME. $20 exacta RAGTIME over CLIQUOT. $10 exacta CLIQUOT over RAGTIME.