Andthewinneris leads field of 12 in Transylvania

Andthewinneris, impressive winner of last fall’s Grade 2 Bourbon at Keeneland, headlines a field of 12 3-year-olds entered for Friday’s 35th running of the Transylvania (G2).

The 1 1/16-mile grass test will go as the eighth race on the 10-race program that opens the 15-day Keeneland spring meet. First post is 1 p.m. EDT, with the Transylvania scheduled to go off at 4:44 p.m.

Trained by Wayne Catalano and owned by Susan Moulton, Andthewinneris opened 2023 with a victory in the Bob Bork Texas Turf Mile Stakes at Sam Houston and in his most recent start finished fourth after a troubled trip in the Black Gold Stakes at Fair Grounds.

“He got bumped pretty good coming out of the gate and then bumped again at the top of the stretch,” Catalano said of Andthewinneris in the Black Gold. “He’s doing great here, and we know he loves this course.”

Corey Lanerie has the mount on Andthewinneris and will exit post position 3.

Also in the field is the Black Gold winner, Wonderful Justice. Trained by Brad Cox, Wonderful Justice is undefeated in two starts and will be ridden Friday by Florent Geroux and break from post 4.

Invading from Florida are the 1-2 finishers in the Colonel Liam at Gulfstream Park: Dude N Colorado and Webslinger.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Dude N Colorado finished third in the Kitten’s Joy (G3) in his graded-stakes debut prior to winning the Colonel Liam. Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount and will break from post 12.

Webslinger has compiled a 5: 2-2-0 record on grass for trainer Mark Casse and features a victory in Monmouth’s Nownownow Stakes on his resume. Javier Castellano has the mount and will break from post 2.

Also coming from Florida is Nagirroc. Trained by Graham Motion, Nagirroc won the Futurity (G3) before finishing third at Keeneland in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Flavien Prat has the mount and will break from post position 9.