Keeneland: Trainer Dickey saddles back-to-back winners

The Day at the Races

Wednesday’s figures: On-track attendance, 8,220; on-track betting, $530,392.50; total betting including simulcast, $4,764,656.68.

This day last year: On-track attendance, 8,124; on-track betting, $620,257; total betting including simulcast, $6,094,511.

Coming up: Catch a Glimpse, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and newly minted Canadian Horse of the Year, headlines a field of 11 entered in the Grade III, $125,000 Appalachian Stakes going 1 mile on the turf.

Final furlong

▪ Unbeaten champion Nyquist had another routine morning at Keeneland, jogging and then galloping a mile over the main track Wednesday. The current Kentucky Derby favorite is slated to jog Thursday, and trainer Doug O’Neill will arrive in Kentucky to supervise the son of Uncle Mo through his planned half-mile breeze on Friday.

▪ Grade I winner Personal Diary snapped a nine-race losing skid Wednesday, getting her head down over Al Khazaaliya to win the fifth race going 1½ miles on turf. The victory was the first for Personal Diary since taking the 2014 Grade I Del Mar Oaks.

▪ Trainer Scooter Dickey, who came into Wednesday with four wins total for 2016, won back-to-back races, both with daughters of Harlan’s Holiday. Dickey saddled Al’s Rosie to victory in the third race and then saw Jayne Wayne take the fourth race at odds of 8-1.

▪ John Oxley’s Noble Bird, winner of last June’s Grade I Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs, heads a field of 10 older horses entered for Saturday’s Grade III, $200,000 Ben Ali Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on the main track. Noble Bird ran sixth in his season debut at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 21. “I still haven’t seen him come back to the old Noble Bird yet,” trainer Mark Casse said. “He has kind of come to life since coming to Keeneland so we’re hoping to see the old Noble Bird.”

▪ Big Chief Racing, Fizzy Racing and Billy Shelton’s Swipe, runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last fall, will open his 3-year-old campaign when he heads a field of 10 in Saturday’s Grade III, $150,000 Lexington Stakes going 1 1/16 miles.

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 6:51 PM with the headline "Keeneland: Trainer Dickey saddles back-to-back winners."