Keeneland opening day: Ashland Stakes odds, free PPs, more

Opening day of the Keeneland spring meet brings a Grade 1 race that will help shape the Kentucky Oaks field.

Wonder Wheel is the 8-5 morning-line favorite for the $600,000 Ashland Stakes (G1). Post time from Keeneland is scheduled for 5:16 p.m., with FanDuel TV showing the 1 1/16-mile event for 3-year-old fillies.

The Ashland headlines a trio of stakes Friday in Lexington, Ky. It is also one of only two races on the 10-race card that includes fewer than nine runners.

Points toward the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) will be awarded to the top five Ashland Stakes finishers on a 100-40-30-20-10 scale.

For favorite Wonder Wheel, Friday marks a return to a track where she has done her best work.

She earned Grade 1 honors last October by winning Keeneland’s Alcibiades Stakes, then rallied from 11th one month later to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies by three lengths. Those two victories lifted her to Eclipse Award honors as 2022 champion juvenile filly.

Wonder Wheel’s lone start thus far as a 3-year-old came in Tampa Bay’s Suncoast Stakes. She went off as a 1-2 favorite Feb. 11 but finished second, coming up a neck shy of 38-1 long shot Dreaming of Snow.

Mark Casse trains the Into Mischief filly Wonder Wheel for owner D.J. Stable. Jockey Tyler Gaffalione has the mount.

Punchbowl (2-1) is off to a 2-for-2 start in her career for trainer Brad Cox. She climbs the ladder to Grade 1 flight off a 4 1/4-length allowance victory March 5 at Oaklawn.

Trainer Todd Pletcher has won the Ashland each of the last two years and brings Julia Shining (3-1) for the 2023 edition. The Demoiselle Stakes (G2) winner was third last out in the Suncoast.

Guns n’ Graces (8-1) made her Oaks trail debut March 4 at Gulfstream Park, finishing second in the Davona Dale Stakes (G2) for trainer Chad Brown.

Malathaat (2021), Monomoy Girl (2018) and Lovely Maria (2015) all swept the Ashland Stakes and Kentucky Oaks within the last decade.

An Ashland win was part of Nest’s resume for champion 3-year-old filly honors in 2022. In her next four starts, all against Grade 1 competition, she was second in the Kentucky Oaks and Belmont Stakes and first in the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama Stakes.

Here is a look at the field for the 2023 Ashland Stakes (trainers and jockeys in parentheses) with morning-line odds:

1. Pride of the Nile (Doug O’Neill, Frankie Dettori), 12-1

2. Wonder Wheel (Mark Casse, Tyler Gaffalione), 8-5

3. Guns n’ Graces (Chad Brown, Joel Rosario), 8-1

4. Julia Shining (Todd Pletcher, Luis Saez), 3-1

5. Punchbowl (Brad Cox, Flavien Prat), 2-1

6. Defining Purpose (Kenny McPeek, Brian Hernandez Jr.), 15-1

7. Effortlesslyelgant (Norm Casse, Ricardo Santana Jr.), 20-1

TimeformUS pace projections show Punchbowl taking the early lead under jockey Flavien Prat in a race that could set up well for those near the front. Favorite Wonder Wheel is projected to track from second.

Visit Horse Racing Nation’s free past performances page for more information on Friday’s Ashland Stakes.

Prospective Kentucky Oaks field

1. Wet Paint, 170

2. Affirmative Lady, 110

3. Pretty Mischievous, 103

4. Southlawn, 100

5. Botanical, 70

6. Dorth Vader, 70

7. The Alys Look, 54

8. Flying Connection, 50

9. Mimi Kakushi, 50

10. Shidabhuti, 50

11. Wonder Wheel, 48

12. Taxed, 48

13. Hoosier Philly, 45

14. Condensation, 40

Other Friday stakes

Here is a look at stakes races scheduled Friday at both Aqueduct and Keeneland. All post times are EDT.

4:34 p.m. – $150,000 Distaff Handicap (G3), 4-and-up fillies and mares, seven furlongs, Aqueduct, FS2

Rossa Veloce (8-5) enters off back-to-back local wins for trainer Rob Atras, including in the Correction Stakes on March 11. Jockey Jose Ortiz is in New York this week and will ride the 5-year-old Girolamo mare. Chad Brown trains 2022 Mother Goose Stakes (G2) heroine Gerrymander (3-1), whose last start was an eighth-place run Sept. 24 at Parx in the Cotillion Stakes (G1). Pass the Champagne (7-2) was fourth Feb. 18 at Laurel Park in the Barbara Fritchie Stakes (G3).

4:44 p.m. – $400,000 Transylvania Stakes (G3), 3-year-olds, 1 1/16 miles (turf), Keeneland, FanDuel TV

Dude N Colorado (9-2) for trainer Todd Pletcher is the shortest-priced horse left on the morning line after trainer Chad Brown's Carl Spackler (3-1) was scratched Friday morning. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. takes over the mount on the Uncle Mo colt, who won the Colonel Liam Stakes on March 4 at Gulfstream Park. Webslinger (5-1) was runner-up in the Colonel Liam for trainer Mark Casse. Vicki Oliver trains Mo Stash (6-1), runner-up Feb. 11 at Tampa Bay in the Columbia Stakes.