Keeneland’s 15-day Spring Meet runs through Friday, April 29. First post is 1 p.m. ET except April 29 when the first post is 12:30 p.m.

·       DEFENDING CHAMPION WAR LIKE GODDESS TOPS FIELD OF SEVEN FOR CLOSING-DAY BEWITCH 

·       YUUGIRI TUNES UP FOR KENTUCKY OAKS START 

·       TOYOTA BLUE GRASS WINNER ZANDON HEADS TO CHURCHILL DOWNS 

·       PLANS FOR BEN ALI WINNER SCALDING TBD

·       SPRING MEET LEADERS 

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DEFENDING CHAMPION WAR LIKE GODDESS TOPS FIELD
OF SEVEN FOR CLOSING-DAY BEWITCH

George Krikorian’s War Like Goddess, a finalist for the Eclipse Award as North America’s champion turf female of 2021, headlines a field of seven fillies and mares entered Sunday for Friday’s 60^th running of the $300,000 Bewitch (G3) going 1½ miles on the grass. 

The Bewitch serves as the closing-day feature for the 15-day Spring Meet and will go as the eighth race on the 10-race program with a 4:07 p.m. ET post time. First post Friday is 12:30 p.m. 

Trained by Bill Mott, War Like Goddess will seek to become the first horse to win the Bewitch in consecutive years. Her Bewitch victory last year was the second in a string of four consecutive graded stakes triumphs during a campaign that concluded with a narrow third-place defeat as the favorite in the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) at Del Mar. 

Joel Rosario will be aboard War Like Goddess in her 2022 debut and will leave from post position four. 

Hunter Valley Farm, Debra O’Connor and Marc Detampel’s Family Way looms as the major threat to War Like Goddess. 

Trained by Brendan Walsh, Family Way won the Orchid (G3) over the Bewitch distance April 2 at Gulfstream Park with Tyler Gaffalione aboard. Gaffalione retains the mount and will break from post three. 

The field for the Bewitch, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Core Values (Rafael Bejarano, 118 pounds), La Lune (GB) (Adam Beschizza, 118), Family Way (Gaffalione, 120), War Like Goddess (Rosario, 118), Stand Tall (Florent Geroux, 118), Luck Money (Irad Ortiz Jr., 118) and Breeze Rider (E.T. Baird, 118).  

YUUGIRI TUNES UP FOR KENTUCKY OAKS START

With jockey Flavien Prat pinch-hitting for Florent Geroux, who rode at Oaklawn Park Saturday afternoon, Tsunebumi and Sekie Yoshihara’s Yuugiri worked 5 furlongs in 1:01.60 in company with Great Escape over a fast main track at Keeneland Sunday morning as she continued preparations for the May 6 Kentucky Oaks (G1). 

Winner of the Fantasy (G3) at Oaklawn Park on April 2 to secure her spot in the Kentucky Oaks starting gate, Yuugiri broke off at the half-mile pole and recorded fractions of :24.20 and :48.40 in the move that occurred at 7:40 a.m. after the first track maintenance break. 

“She did it very easy,” said Prat, who will ride undefeated UAE Oaks (G3) winner Shahama in the Kentucky Oaks. “I was very happy with the work.” 

The work was the second since the Fantasy for Yuugiri, who breezed a half-mile in :50 here on April 16. 

Trainer Rodolphe Brisset’s wife, Brooke, oversaw the work for her husband, who was traveling back from Oaklawn. 

“We got what we wanted this morning,” Brooke said, adding that Yuugiri would work again here next Sunday morning, have a walk day on Monday and ship to Churchill Downs for the Oaks. At Churchill last fall, Yuugiri made her first three career starts with a victory and two runner-up finishes in stakes. 

TOYOTA BLUE GRASS WINNER ZANDON HEADS TO CHURCHILL DOWNS

Jeff Drown’s Toyota Blue Grass (G1) winner Zandon left Keeneland Sunday morning for the short van ride to Churchill Downs and a start in the $3 million Kentucky Derby (G1) Presented by Woodford Reserve on May 7.

Zandon worked a half-mile in :48.60 here Saturday morning. Trainer Chad Brown said the colt would have his final Derby work this coming Saturday. 

PLANS FOR BEN ALI WINNER SCALDING TBD

Plans are undetermined for Ben Ali (G3) winner Scalding, according to Anthony Hamilton, assistant to trainer Shug McGaughey. 

“That was fun yesterday,” Hamilton said about the Ben Ali performance, which marked Scalding’s fourth consecutive victory and second Grade 3 win. “Right now, I am not sure where he will go next.” 

Hamilton is taking a small string of McGaughey horses to Churchill in the next couple of days, including the undefeated Kathleen O. On Saturday, Kathleen O. completed the Keeneland portion of her Kentucky Oaks (G1) preparation with a :48.80 half-mile breeze. 

Owned by Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stables and LNJ Foxwoods, Scalding finished 1¼ lengths in front of Dynamic One in the Ben Ali. Dynamic One returned to Churchill Downs after the race to rejoin trainer Todd Pletcher’s string there. 

Proxy, who finished third in the Ben Ali, is heading to trainer Mike Stidham’s main base of operations at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. 

“We are going to nominate around and try to pick the best spot for him,” said Stidham, who noted the $300,000 Pimlico Special (G3) to be run at 1 3/16 miles on May 20 was a possibility.  

SPRING MEET LEADERS 

Through April 23 (11 days of 15-day season)