From Doncaster, England, to Shelbyville, Indiana, they come from far and wide for the featured ninth race Friday at Keeneland.
The 10 entrants who form the main body of this second-level turf sprint allowance last raced at seven different venues. And it’s this kind of disparate form – horses coming from all over the place – that can make the short Keeneland meetings such a handicapping challenge.
Favorites after 78 races this meet have won 26 for a 33 percent strike rate – low by today’s standards. On turf, the chalk has won 31 percent of the time, and among eight turf sprints – where racing luck can play an outsized role – favorites have gone 1 for 8.
The favorite in the Friday feature is Bergen, listed at 3-1 on the track’s morning line. You can have him at that price.
Bergen, with Luis Saez riding for trainer Joe Sharp, looks no faster or better than several others entered to race 5 1/2 furlongs. Sharp has put together a great year but has gone quiet at Keeneland, with one winner from just nine runners through Oct. 12.
Bergen might, however, have grass upside, having made just his last two starts on turf following seven dirt runs. Second over 5 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga, he finished second over 6 1/2 furlongs last out at Kentucky Downs. Bergen, by Liam’s Map, lacks early speed and does his best work with a late run that’s more sustained than flashy.
Butch’s Best, who last raced in Shelbyville at Horseshoe Indianapolis, sits at just 6-1 for trainer Rob Dobbs, an Indiana stalwart but a rare Keeneland participant. Butch’s Best has speed and must use it from his rail draw.
Just outside him comes Jakajaro, set for his North American debut following 27 European starts. That’s quite the busy schedule for a 4-year-old denizen of the handicap ranks, and Jakajaro, only a two-time winner, last finished first in March 2024.
His running style has been all over the map. Jakajaro has run to form while ridden as a hold-up horse, but two starts ago, he turned in perhaps a career-best when allowed to show speed in an Ascot handicap. Trained by Robert Cowell, he campaigns for Mrs. Fitriana Hay, as do several horses trained by Keeneland-based Wesley Ward. Jakajaro figures to have traveled here on a one-way ticket.
The best value, at least on the morning line, is Smokey Smokey at 8-1 and Monsieur Candy at 12-1.
Four-year-old Smokey Smokey races for the first time since October 2024, but there’s no easier kind of race for a long layoff horse than a turf sprint. Smokey Smokey’s peak in a pair of New York turf-sprint stakes as a 3-year-old stamp suggests he can contend.
Monsieur Candy exits two Colonial Downs turf sprints, including a first-level allowance victory, and rejoins the barn of trainer Alice Cohn. A Louisiana-bred bound for Fair Grounds, Monsieur Candy failed to show his usual speed finishing fifth while turf sprinting this past April at Keeneland, but a year earlier he wired a turf-sprint maiden over the course with a strong 94 Beyer Speed Figure.
* The Friday card will start with a $249,893 carryover in the early pick five. The sequence consists of the first five races. First post is 1 p.m. Eastern.
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