Guide to Saturday’s $1 million 2023 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland
Keeneland’s big Kentucky Derby prep race, the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, plays out Saturday evening on the race course’s opening weekend. Here’s everything you need to know to get set for the 99th running of the Blue Grass:
Post time: 5:15 p.m. (ninth race).
Purse: $1 million (Grade 1).
For: 3-year-olds.
Distance: 1 1/8 miles (dirt).
Derby points: 100-40-30-20-10.
TV: NBC (Broadcast runs from 4-6 p.m. and includes live coverage of Derby preps at Aqueduct and Santa Anita — the Wood Memorial and Santa Anita Derby). Broadcast of Blue Grass Stakes is also available on FanDuel TV.
Here’s a look at the field with morning-line odds for the 2023 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes:
1. Tapit Trice (5-2)
Jockey: Luis Saez.
Trainer: Todd Pletcher.
Owners: Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable.
Career record: 4 starts (3 firsts, 0 seconds, 1 third).
Career earnings: $310,150.
Kentucky Derby points: 50 (11th on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Won the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs on March 11.
Notable: The favorite has won the Blue Grass Stakes in 38 of the previous 98 runnings including three of the past five years. If Tapit Trice is to join that list, patience will be required. The son of Tapit is a slow starter and a deep closer, but Pletcher knows how to win this race, having done so with Bandini (2005), Monba (2008) and Carpe Diem (2015).
2. Clear the Air (30-1)
Jockey: Ricardo Santana Jr.
Trainer: Will Walden.
Owner: Cypress Creek Equine.
Career record: 4 starts (1 first, 0 seconds, 0 thirds).
Career earnings: $58,610.
Kentucky Derby points: Five (57th on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished fifth in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct on March 4.
Notable: Clear the Air will vie for longest shot in the field come post time, having finished fifth in his only career stakes race, the Gotham after low-level starts at Ellis Park and Turfway Park.
3. Verifying (3-1)
Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione.
Trainer: Brad Cox.
Owner: Westerberg Limited, Mrs. John Magnier, Jonathan Poulin, Derrick Smith and Michael B. Tabor.
Career record: 5 starts (2 firsts, 1 second, 0 thirds).
Career earnings: $304,900.
Kentucky Derby points: 14 (41st on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished fourth in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 25.
Notable: Expect Verifying to be running near the front and pressing the pace. The son of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify has been more pedigree than production thus far. As the heavy favorite in the Rebel, Verifying got stuck behind horses when he was ready to run then had little left when Florent Geroux finally found an opening. “The race was already over,” the jockey said afterward.
4. Classic Car Wash (12-1)
Jockey: Javier Castellano.
Trainer: Mark Casse.
Owner: Gary Barber.
Career record: 5 starts (2 firsts, 1 second, 1 third).
Career earnings: $163,550.
Kentucky Derby points: 26 (24th on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished second in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs on March 11.
Notable: Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse will be seeking his first Blue Grass Stakes victory but has a rider who has done it before. Castellano won the 2019 Blue Grass aboard Vekoma.
5. Hayes Strike (15-1)
Jockey: James Graham.
Trainer: Kenny McPeek.
Owner: Dixiana Farms.
Career record: 9 starts (2 firsts, 1 second, 1 third).
Career earnings: $194,507.
Kentucky Derby points: Seven (51st on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Won the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel Park on March 18.
Notable: Hayes Strike is by far the most seasoned colt in the Blue Grass field having gone to post eight times since making his debut last July at Ellis Park. He raced in August, September, October (twice), November and December of 2022 and in January and March this year.
6. Scoobie Quando (15-1)
Jockey: Luan Machado.
Trainer: Ben Colebrook.
Owners: Andrew N. Warren and Rania Warren.
Career record: 3 starts (1 first, 2 seconds, 0 thirds).
Career earnings: $120,000.
Kentucky Derby points: Eight (49th on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished second in the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway Park on March 4.
Notable: When someone at Keeneland asks you Saturday — and they will — “What does Scoobie Quando mean?, here’s the explanation, as told by owner Andrew Warren to the BloodHorse: “You know how some people like to sing in the shower? My dad is one of those types that likes to do that, and he used to make up some nonsensical words. That’s his two words he used to be singing in the shower a lot. It just tickled me somehow.”
7. Sun Thunder (10-1)
Jockey: Florent Geroux.
Trainer: Kenny McPeek.
Owners: R.T. Racing Stable and Cypress Creek Equine.
Career record: 5 starts (1 first, 1 second, 1 third).
Career earnings: $201,250.
Kentucky Derby points: 34 (19th on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished fifth in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds on March 25.
Notable: Sun Thunder looks to be the best of McPeek’s trio of contenders in the Blue Grass and is back on the track only two weeks after his most recent start. “His last race was a paceless race, and he really didn’t get to run until the last part. He seems none the worse for wear, and the partnership is keen to try him again.”
8. Blazing Sevens (6-1)
Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.
Trainer: Chad Brown.
Owner: Rodeo Creek Racing.
Career record: 5 starts (2 firsts, 0 seconds, 1 third).
Career earnings: $472,750.
Kentucky Derby points: 16 (36th on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished eighth in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park on March 4.
Notable: Blazing Sevens announced his presence with a 3 1/4-length win over Verifying in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct last October but has raced only twice since — fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and eighth in the Fountain of Youth. Brown, who won the Blue Grass in 2018 with Good Magic and last year with Zandon, is seeking to become the fourth trainer to win the race in consecutive years and the first since LeRoy Jolley in 1976-1977.
9. Major Blue (30-1)
Jockey: David Cabrera.
Trainer: D. Wayne Lukas.
Owners: Bob Ghent, Ann Ghent, Laurie Lukas, D. Wayne Lukas.
Career record: 4 starts (2 firsts, 0 seconds, 0 thirds).
Career earnings: $121,605.
Kentucky Derby points: Zero.
Most recent race: Won an allowance optional claiming race at Oaklawn Park on March 23.
Notable: The Blue Grass Stakes will mark the stakes debut of Major Blue, a horse in which trainer D. Wayne Lukas shares ownership. Lukas won the Bluegrass in 2000 with High Yield and in 1987 with War but, barring a major surprise, doesn’t figure to be in it at the end on Saturday.
10. Raise Cain (9-2)
Jockey: Joel Rosario.
Trainer: Ben Colebrook.
Owners: Andrew N. Warren and Rania Warren.
Career record: 6 starts (2 firsts, 1 second, 1 third).
Career earnings: $268,578.
Kentucky Derby points: 54 (ninth on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Won the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct on March 4.
Notable: If you have the chance, watch Raise Cain’s victory in the Gotham, in which he won a stretch duel against a riderless horse whose jockey was unseated at the gate. Officially, Raise Cain won by 7 1/2 lengths but the visual was that of a near-photo-finish. Raise Cain has raced twice previously at Keeneland, winning a maiden race on Oct. 9 last year, then finishing third in the Bowman Mill Stakes on Oct. 29.
11. Mendelssohns March (20-1)
Jockey: Brian Hernandez Jr.
Trainer: Kenny McPeek.
Owners: Harold Lerner, Nehoc Stables, AWC Stables and Team Stallion Racing Stable.
Career record: 2 starts (2 firsts, 0 seconds, 0 thirds).
Career earnings: $91,800.
Kentucky Derby points: Zero.
Most recent race: Won an allowance optional claiming race at Oaklawn Park on March 9.
Notable: McPeek, a Lexington native, is seeking his third victory in the Blue Grass Stakes, having won previously with Harlan’s Holiday in 2002 and Java’s War in 2013. Mendelssohns March is lightly raced but is the only undefeated colt in the Blue Grass Stakes.
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The field is set for the 99th Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. See the full field with odds.
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