Two graded stakes-winning mares approaching millionaire status clash in the featured $400,000 Baird Doubledogdare Stakes at Keeneland this Friday. The 1-1/16-miles race on the main track is surrounded by two crowded 5-1/2F turf sprints that comprise the $3 Late Pick 3. Here’s a closer look and a suggested $72 ticket:

KEE 8th Race (4:44 p.m. EST) -- Most of the favorites in this $120,000 turf allowance at 5-1/2F have kept suspect company lines, lending itself to a mixed bag of plays in the leadoff leg. The well-traveled ATLAL surged clear in a long sprint at Kentucky Downs to break his maiden on turf. More recently, he drew clear entering the stretch but got caught by the 8-5 winner in the shadow of the wire on Keeneland’s dirt track. He runs 5-1/2F for the first time but merits a spot on the ticket in his current form. STRATE CASH earned the field’s second-best speed rating when he won a Maiden Special Weight sprint attempt a year ago at Santa Anita. He’s now in the barn of trainer Cherie DeVaux, who has a win and six runner-up finishes from her last 17 turf starters. DOUBLE TALKER will try to follow the footsteps of his sire – 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf champion Hootenanny – in his first turf test. He impressed in a 4-1/2F debut victory on the Keeneland dirt a year ago, stalking the 1-to-5 favorite and blowing past him in the final furlong; however, few of his rivals that day have done much since. MOON SNIPER has a good enough 5-1/2F turf allowance at Keeneland to summon to make him a 20-1 consideration. He ranged up 5-wide in the stretch but was in tight at the 1/8th pole while the top pair were in full flight from off the pace.

KEE 9th Race (5:16 p.m. EST) -- GIN GIN (pictured) blossomed into the field’s lone Grade 1 winner in four starts since last April for trainer Brendan Walsh. She survived a stretch-long duel to win the 1-1/8-mile Juddmonte Spinster at Keeneland, but she was eased when last seen in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in November. ALPINE PRINCESS toured the U.S. to compile a 7/1-4-1 record in graded route races, finishing 2-1/2 lengths behind GIN GIN in the G-3 Shawnee at today’s distance before she won the G-3 Fall City Handicap with similar rest entering today’s race.

KEE 10th race (5:48 p.m. EST) -- SHE WANTS WAR shows some flashy workouts for her seasonal debut. She was out-dueled by the runner-up and passed by a pair of deep closers on the Churchill Downs lawn at this distance last summer. Her uncoupled stablemate, FOOL’S ADVENTURE, is sure to get a lot of betting attention for trainer Wesley Ward, who is 30-for-147 with debut turf starters in the last five years, though 88 of them were dismissed at 4-1 odds or less. AMANI’S MUSIC ‘led through most of the stretch’ but was out-dueled by the 5-to-2 winner on Gulfstream Park’s synthetic track. The race timed 4/5 of a second slower than a six-figure optional claimer for older fillies and mares on the same card. Her two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer, Brad Cox, is 98-for-317 with second-time starters the last two years with a positive return on investment.

Suggested $3 Pick 3 Ticket
KEE 8th Race: 1, 5, 6, 7
KEE 9th Race: 1, 4
KEE 10th Race: 2, 3, 5
Cost: $72