Racing continues on Thursday afternoon in the Blue Grass where Keeneland has a solid 9-race card that kicks off at 1PM ET. Included on today’s slate are a quartet of maiden special weight races for 3YOs. I will focus on three of those.
Race 2:
The first of the MSW events on the Thursday agenda is for 3YO fillies at two-turns on the lawn where oddsmaker Nick Tammaro understandably made #4 Double Jeopardy the 5-2-morning line choice. The Bass Stables homebred put forth a better than looks second on debut at Gulfstream Park last month for Todd Pletcher. Pletcher is off to a slow start to the meet and this one is likely to need to get out of the gate a bit better to get to the wire first, but she put in a strong late run in that March 9 start besting the entire field outside of the gate-to-wire winner. The Uncle Mo filly appears to have talent, but the tote board will reflect that.
Hopefully #1 Snipsnippitysnip takes far less money. The Girvin filly failed to make an impression in either of her starts over the Gulfstream sod this winter, but really had no shot last out when forward horses dominated from start-to-finish. The $155k OBS April 2024 purchase has been given almost 3 months by trainer Brendan Walsh. Walsh is pulling all the right strings of late on his way to yet another strong Keeneland spring meet. I like the move to Jose Ortiz, as well as the rail draw. Hopefully, she breaks well off the freshening.
Play: #1 Snipsnippitysnip (10-1 ML)
Race 4:
An auction restricted MSW for males is up next at 6-furlongs and I like second-time starter #9 Flick. The Army Mule gelding debuted at Fair Grounds on March 20 and things do not go well for the Michael Tomlinson trainee. He broke slowly from his inside draw and then found traffic issues when in a tight spot trying to move up along the rail. The Diamond F Racing runner moves to an outside draw in his second lifetime try for a barn that sports a $3.08 ROI at Keeneland over a 191-race sample size. I expect a strong run.
Play: #9 Flick (12-1 ML)
Race 6:
I am going to go back to the Brendan Walsh barn in this 7-furlong affair for protected 3YO maidens. #2 Clicquot was hammered down to even money favoritism in her debut at Gulfstream Park back on March 1. The Quality Road filly did not break that well, moved up the inside to battle early, and understandably tired late. I am willing to forgive the disappointing run as the chalk not only because the trip in general was a poor one for a young filly, plus she was racing along the inside on a day where the outside was the place to be. She comes in off a pair of strong drills over the surface and should be poised to bounce back in a big way.
Play: #2 Clicquot (6-1 ML)
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