It is hard to believe, but there are not many days left in the Keeneland Spring Meeting. With racing set to head to Louisville on Saturday, there are only two chances left at our month-long 2 Million 1/ST Rewards Points Late Pick 4 Hit & Split promotion on select days at Keeneland. Just register for the promo if you have yet to, connect on today and/or Wednesday’s Late Pick 4 sequence, and split $2M rewards points with our other customers able to do so. Here is how I will try to connect the dots to end the week in the Blue Grass.


Grade Descriptions: Grade A=Highest degree of confidence; Grade B=Solid Play. Grade C=Least preferred or pass; Grade X=probable winner but likely at odds too short to play.

Race 6:
Grade: C+
Main Ticket: 5 Kravitz; 7 Patrol Squad Six; 1 McCready; 4 East Village
Backups: None

Forecast: The last Pick 4 of the week kicks off with a wide-open allowance event for non-winners of two travelling 1 3/16-miles over the Keeneland lawn. A lot of the top contenders in this spot happen to be closers, so it will be interesting to see how the race plays out. #4 East Village is one of those that could have a pace advantage, so I will use him at a big price. He gets back to his preferred surface in his second try off the bench. #5 Kravitz is my lukewarm top pick given his 15-1-ML price. The Justify gelding overcame a 3-wide trip into the first turn winning at 21-1 at Gulfstream Park last out. He gets John Velazquez and is clearly moving in the right direction for trainer Graham Motion.


Race 7:
Grade: X
Main Ticket: 6 Elnajd
Backups: None

Forecast: Trainer Brad Cox continued his white-hot run at Keeneland this spring on Saturday with two more winners. Cox legs up hot riding Irad Ortiz Jr. on this son of Speightstown that has done very little wrong thus far after getting off to a late start to his career. He won going away at Fair Grounds on debut before losing little in defeat when finishing second to the veteran Mish on February 22. Mish has 12 wins in 40 starts, so his early speed and experience were able to best this lightly-raced colt, but he does not meet anyone of that caliber later today. The Shadwell homebred should be tough to deny at a short price.


Race 8: Palisades
Grade: C+
Main Ticket: 5 Archimedes; 6 Sandal’s Song; 10 Throckmorton
Backups: None

Forecast: The Sunday feature drew a full field of 3YO turf sprinters led by Wesley Ward conditioned #4 Schwarzenegger. The $850k son of Not This Time makes his first start since a speed and fade effort in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Halloween. He is very fast and was highly regarded as a 2YO, but has questions to answers given his price off the bench. With speed to both sides, he should at least not have things easy on the front end, so I will try to beat him with a trio of runners. #5 Archimedes intrigues at what should be a big price. The son of Caravaggio was purchased by Mike Maker and some of his regular clients after his runner-up effort in early February in an allowance at Fair Grounds. I love that Maker clearly pointed for this spot and attracts Flavien Prat. He should outrun his odds. #6 Sandal’s Song is more of a wild card, but lured Irad for his first start in the States. George Weaver is obviously highly capable of having his runners ready to fire big in turf sprints and this horse ran a solid third in the Norfolk (G2) at Ascot when we saw him last.


Race 9:
Grade: C+
Main Ticket: 2 Non Conforming; 11 Asheville
Backups: None

Forecast: An auction restricted MSW for 3YOs at 7-furlongs closes the week of racing in Lexington where I will use two horses in hopes of closing things out. First-time starter #11 Asheville debuts for the red-hot Brad Cox barn and lures Irad. He draws favorably towards the far outside on debut and does not meet the strongest group. That said, I like #2 Non Conforming more as a bet. It could go either way for this Brian Lynch trainee, but I am willing to give him a pass on his stalk and fade effort from the inside at Gulfstream back on February 7. That was a day where the outside was the clear place to be, so perhaps pulling up like he did can be overlooked. With an inside draw over this racetrack and Luis Saez aboard, I hope he shows big speed from the gate and has a whole lot more energy late than he did two and a half months ago.