Friday's Best Bet: Nagirroc can make progress in Transylvania
Friday’s eighth race at Keeneland is the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes for 3-year-olds traveling 1 1/16 miles on the turf course. The scheduled post time is 4:44 p.m. EDT.
Click here for Keeneland entries and results.
No. 9 Nagirroc (8-1) rallied for the place in his turf sprint bow. Graham Motion took over as his trainer after that, and he won his next two turf sprints, including the Futurity Stakes at Aqueduct. He stretched out and landed the show at 39-1 in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and completed the trifecta under Flavien Prat as the beaten favorite in the Eddie Logan Stakes late last year. He probably will stalk the pace.
No. 11 Carl Spackler (3-1) chased, led and missed by a head in his turf route bow at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 21. Far Bridge nipped him that day and returned to cruised from off the pace as the heavy favorite for Christophe Clement on March 11. Chad Brown’s colt won by open lengths in a good-looking, maiden score second time out at one mile Feb. 25, and he was the overwhelming favorite that day.
No. 8 Candidate (10-1) and No. 12 Dude N Colorado (9-2) were separated by a neck when they squared off in the Kitten’s Joy Stakes on Feb. 4. Both have the ability to be forwardly placed, and I am not seeing much pace in the paper race.
Wagers
No. 9 to win
Exacta box 9-11
Trifecta 9-11/8-9-11-12/8-9-11-12
Recent Best Bet winners
March 18 – Princess Bettina/Comanche Country exacta ($18.80), trifecta ($81.40)
March 20 – Candy for Carmel/Good Culture exacta ($72), trifecta ($143.60)
March 25 – West Will Power ($7.20), exacta ($15.60)
March 27 – Tiergarten/Precocious Times/Cheekiest trifecta ($89.80)
Wednesday – Ego Man ($4.80), exacta ($21.80), trifecta ($39.80)