First Look: Keeneland hosts 2 Grade 1s + last Derby prep

The last chance to qualify for the Kentucky Derby 2022 and a pair of Grade 1 races highlight a short schedule of stakes this week.

Keeneland will host most of the races, including the Makers’ Mark Mile (G1) on Friday and the Jenny Wiley (G1) on Saturday, when the Lexington Stakes (G3) could be the path for two horses to crash the Derby party.

Oaklawn will be the site of the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) on Saturday, when Eclipse Award winner Jackie’s Warrior makes his 4-year-old debut.

Friday

Maker’s Mark Mile (G1), Keeneland, 1 mile (turf), 4-year-olds and up

The last time Smooth Like Strait was on the track in the afternoon, he was in a desperate fight to the finish before finishing second by a half-length to Space Blues in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. The 5-year-old Midnight Lute horse trained by Michael McCarthy has finished second in four straight graded stakes. His most recent victory was last May in the Shoemaker Mile (G1) at Santa Anita. Fellow Grade 1 winners In Love and Ivar, both trained by Paulo Lobo, and Count Again from Phil D’Amato’s stable also are entered.

Saturday

Jenny Wiley (G1), Keeneland, 1 1/16 miles (turf), fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and up

Trainer Chad Brown had won three consecutive runnings of this race before Juliet Foxtrot scored last year for Brad Cox. Brown comes back with two live contenders this weekend. Regal Glory began her 6-year-old season in January with a victory in the inaugural Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf Invitational (G3) at Gulfstream Park. That followed her Grade 1 breakthrough last fall in the Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar. Her 4-year-old stablemate Shantisara makes her 2022 debut on the same course where she finished 2021 with a victory in the Oct. 16 running of the QEII Cup (G1). She carries a three-race winning streak into the Jenny Wiley.

Lexington (G3), Keeneland, 1 1/16 miles, 3-year-olds

As many as three starters are in position to get into the Kentucky Derby, depending on what they do in Saturday’s 20-8-4-2 point qualifier, the last prep on the road to Louisville. Cox told At the Races radio host Steve Byk that Tawny Port would be entered into the race that comes just two weeks after a second-place result in the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3). The colt would qualify for the Derby if he finished in the top four. Fountain of Youth (G2) runner-up In Due Time, whom trainer Kelly Breen said he planned to enter here, and Sunland Park Derby (G2) runner-up Bye Bye Bobby, a possible starter for Todd Fincher, need a win to clinch a place in the Derby starting gate.

Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3), Oaklawn, 6 furlongs, 4-year-olds and up

Jackie’s Warrior got a four-month break after he finished sixth as the odds-on favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. That did not prevent him from being honored as the champion male sprinter of 2021. The Maclean’s Music colt trained by Steve Asmussen won three graded sprints last year, including the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1) at Saratoga. Bob’s Edge, winner of last month’s six-furlong Whitmore (G3) on the same course, also is expected by the Oaklawn racing office to be in the race as are Empire of Gold and Mojo Man, who were third and fifth, respectively, behind C Z Rocket in last year’s renewal.