A field of eight fillies was entered Monday for the Grade 1, $750,000 Ashland Stakes, the opening-day feature on Friday at Keeneland and one of the final major Kentucky Oaks prep races.
From the rail out, the field for the Ashland is Look Forward, La Cara, Supa Speed, Muhimma, Running Away, Take Charge Milady, Amarth, and Admit. They are chasing points toward a spot in the May 2 Kentucky Oaks on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale.
The Ashland is one of three stakes on a 10-race card that opens the 15-day spring meet. With large purses in Kentucky, big fields have been the norm of late, and Friday's card is no exception, drawing an average field size of 12 entries when the program was assembled Monday.
The other stakes are the Grade 3, $600,000 Transylvania for 3-year-olds on the turf, which has drawn an overflow field of 16 entrants, and the $400,000 Lafayette for 3-year-old dirt sprinters, with eight entered. Another highlight of the card is the first 2-year-old race of the year, which, appropriately, is the first race.
With potential wet weather through the week and a better than 90 percent chance of thunderstorms forecast for Friday, the status of the Transylvania and other turf races will be closely watched.
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