Daring Duchess Highlights Bewitch

Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Daring Duchess is the 120-pound highweight in the field of six fillies and mares entered Tuesday for Friday’s 56th running of the $150,000 Bewitch (G3) on closing day of Keeneland’s 2017 Spring Meet.

The Bewitch, run at 1½ miles on the turf, will go as the ninth race Friday with a 5:30 p.m. ET post time. First post for the 10-race program is 1:05 p.m.

Daring Duchess, a 5-year-old daughter of Arch, is trained by Mike Maker and will be ridden by Julien Leparoux, who rode Olorda (GER) to win the Bewitch last year. Daring Duchess finished fifth in the Rood & Riddle Dowager (G3) at Keeneland in October.

Trainer Graham Motion, who entered Team Valor International and Green Lantern Stables’ Arles (FR) in the Bewitch, is bidding for his fifth victory in the stakes. Motion has won four of the past five runnings of the Bewitch, winning with Kitten’s Point (2015), Inimitable Romanee (2014) and Strathnaver (GB) (2013) as well as Bursting Forth (1999).

Arles, who will be ridden by Joel Rosario, is coming off four consecutive runner-up finishes with the past three in Grade 3 races. In her lone start of 2017, she was second in the La Prevoyante (G3) on Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park.

Roger Attfield, who trains Charles Fipke’s Dyna’s Recoleta, has three wins in the Bewitch, including the 2010 running with Fipke’s Lady Shakespeare. Attfield also won with Noble Stella (GER) (2006) and Sweetest Thing (2002).

The field for the Bewitch, with riders and weights, from the inside is: Inchargeofme (GB) (Edgar Prado, 118 pounds), Daring Duchess (Leparoux), Dyna’s Recoleta (Jose Lezcano, 118 pounds), Earring (Florent Geroux, 118 pounds), Quiet Business (Brian Hernandez Jr., 118 pounds) and Arles (FR) (Rosario, 118 pounds).

The 2017 class of inductees into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York, announced Monday include three jockeys with Keeneland connections: Javier Castellano, Victor Espinoza and the late Garrett Gomez.

They will be inducted along with Goldikova (IRE) and previously announced steeplechase selections Tom Voss and Good Night Shirt on Aug. 4.

Castellano, the leading rider during Keeneland’s 2015 and 2016 Spring Meets, has received the Eclipse Award as North America’s outstanding jockey for the past four years. He has accumulated 159 wins at Keeneland since 2002, scoring 12 victories during the first 12 days of the current 15-day Spring Meet to rank second on the list of the meet’s leading jockeys.

Among Castellano’s 33 Keeneland stakes wins are three stakes during the current season: Maker’s 46 Mile (G1) on American Patriot, Transylvania (G3) Presented by Keeneland Select on Big Score and Adena Springs Beaumont (G3) on Sweet Loretta.

Castellano also won these Grade 1 races: 2007 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup on Bit of Whimsy, 2011 Central Bank Ashland on Lilacs and Lace, 2011 Maker’s Mark Mile on Get Stormy, 2012 QE II on Dayatthespa, 2012 Jenny Wiley on Hard Not to Like, 2015 Maker’s 46 Mile on Jack Milton and 2015 Jenny Wiley on Ball Dancing. During the 2015 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Keeneland, he won the Las Vegas Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) on Liam’s Map and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) on Stopchargingmaria.

The most memorable of Espinoza’s four Keeneland stakes wins occurred in October 2015 when he rode Triple Crown winner American Pharoah to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). He also won the 1999 Shadwell Keeneland Turf Mile (G2) on Kirkwall (GB), 2006 Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity (G1) with Great Hunter and 2003 Perryville (G3) Presented by Budweiser Select on Midnight Lute.

Gomez, who died in 2016, won 24 stakes at Keeneland and was the leading rider of the 2010 Spring Meet with 22 victories. His Grade 1 victories were the 2000 Three Chimneys Spinster on Plenty of Light, 2006 Toyota Blue Grass on Sinister Minister, 2006 Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) on Aussie Rules,  2007 Juddmonte Spinster on Panty Raid and 2011 Vinery Madison on Shotgun Gulch.

Gomez won 119 races at Keeneland from 1994-2013. He received Eclipse Awards as outstanding jockey in 2007 and 2008.

Voss’ lone win at Keeneland was the 2008 Sycamore (G3) with Always First (GB). Last fall, his daughter, Elizabeth, won the Sycamore with Renown (GB).

Good Night Shirt, who received the Eclipse Award as champion steeplechaser in 2007 and 2008, was second in Keeneland’s 2007 Royal Chase for the Sport of Kings (G1). Keeneland held the race from 1998-2008.