Coach Ken McPeek is filled with confidence as he joins the $1 million Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland where he will guide the unique graded bet winners into the 12-horse field. But one of the winners was graded — love the light line 9-5 Happy smile —Continue the greatest confidence.
“It’s going to be tough to beat him. They better bring a bear,” McPeek said in front of Blue Grass, among the final 100 points of the Road to Kentucky Derby qualifying races of the year and one of three. April 9 runners.
The son of the champion sprinter of Claiborne Farm Runhappy McPeek said it’s not just about performing well on Saturday, but it also has to be fresh to take on the challenging Triple Crown series.
“This is the horse I’ve been sitting on for a while and I’ve been looking forward to bringing it back to the races. I could have made the case to run it at some point this winter but I just wanted to. there’s two front horses for it. go into the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont because he’s the horse that can handle that series,” he said.
Owned by Michael Mackin’s Lucky Seven Stable, Smile Happy won its October 21 debut at Keeneland with 5 1/2 lengths and went on to win the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) with 3 1 /4 length. He started once this year when he finished second in Epicenter in the Resurrection Star Stock presented by Lamarque Ford (G2) at Fair Grounds & Slots. Jockey Corey Lanerie, who has been on Smile Happy for his last two warm-ups, has a mount in Blue Grass and will take a break from post 10.
McPeek and Lucky Seven also have Rattle N Roll in Blue Grass, son of Connection won last year at Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland with a length of 4 1/4. The foal won twice and was placed once out of six life cycle starts. He came to Greenfield with a fourth place in the Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2). He’s being considered for the April 16 Stonestreet Lexington Stakes (G3) but McPeek said Rattle N Roll seems better suited for longer distances.
“I’ve been watching him train for the past few days and am very pleased with the way he looks and the way he acts. He really wants more than a mile and an eighth then a mile and sixteen. of Lexington,” he said. “He won a 1st grade at Keeneland, and I really want to see him run on the track.”
A 50% chance of rain is Lexington’s forecast for Saturday with rain and showers in the coming days. The Rattle N Roll has never raced off track but its male got his first win in four races on the muddy track. Belmont Park monitor.
Rattle N Roll, who is ranked 8-1 in the morning, will be driven by Brian Hernandez Jr., who has ridden him in five of his six starts. They will break from lesson 9.
Owner Jeff Drown and coach Chad Brown have a 5-2 second pick in Blue Grass with Zandon the son of Start up third in the Resurrection Star Stock. Zandon just missed being a classified bet winner in the Remsen Stakes (G2), where he is eyeing Mo Donegal . The colt will be ridden by Flavien Prat, who will ride Zandon for the first time. They will break from lesson 4.
This year’s Blue Grass race marks a historic return for the team to prepare for Derby to return to 1st class. The race was relegated to 2nd place in 2017 mainly due to a change in the main track of the team. Keeneland became an all-weather surface in 2006. Horses that are successful on all-weather races also tend to thrive on grass, which has influenced the color of Green turf since year 2006-14. Trainers with top ground horses targeted for the Kentucky Derby often consider other horses.
The American Ratings Board evaluates race scores every year using a four-year quality score combined with the highest ranked race won by each starter, so its rating is affected. affected by weather years even after Keeneland returned to dirt in 2017.
Blue Grass takes the 1st place title as the most recent winners include the underage champion Necessary quality (2021) and Good magic (2018) and the student won the first prize Vekoma (2019) and Art collector (In 2020).
In the Road to Kentucky Derby schedule, Blue Grass awarded 100-40-20-10 points to the top four finishers. Smile Happy, as of April 6, is 17th with 30 points on the leaderboard. Other prizes with the same score on Saturday were the Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino (G2) and Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1).
Item: Toyota Blue Grass S. (G1)
KeenelandSaturday, April 9, 2022, Race No. 9
- Level I
- 1 1/8 minutes
- Dust
- 1,000,000 dollars
- 3 yo
- 5:10pm (local)
