Last year’s Preakness winner captures Maker’s Mark Mile in photo finish at Keeneland
A Triple Crown trophy winner added another major accomplishment to his resume in Keeneland’s feature race on Friday.
War of Will, winner of the 2019 Preakness Stakes, made a late charge to capture the $300,000, Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile at the wire, prevailing over 24-1 shot Parlor in a photo finish. It was the first victory in six tries since the Preakness for the Mark Casse-trained 4-year-old, who last time out finished sixth in the Shoemaker Mile.
Parlor took the lead late in the stretch but could not hold off War of Will, who went off at odds of 5-1.
Casse decided to remove the blinkers from War of Will for his second straight turf race in the Maker’s Mark.
“Getting the last race out of the way, getting that start into him to get the nerves out and I think taking off the blinkers today helped him,” jockey Tyler Gaffalione said after the race. “He relaxed beautifully going around there and when I called on him he really finished up nicely.”
Post-time favorite Raging Bull closed well to finish third. He paid $2.40 to show. War of Will paid $13.80 to win, $6.80 to place and $3.60 to show. Parlor paid $20.40 to place and $7.00 to show.
War of Will has now won five times in 16 career starts and has earned $1,796,069.
“It was an unbelievable race and we’re elated. It was a big win for the whole team,” assistant trainer David Carroll said.
Beaumont breeze
Once the starting gate was raised there was little drama in the first graded stakes contest of Keeneland’s Summer Meet. Four Graces broke as the 3-5 favorite and breezed to her third career victory in the $100,000, Grade 3 Beaumont Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Friday.
Ridden by Julien Leparoux, Four Graces quickly moved to the lead and smoked the field, finishing well ahead of second-place Sconsin. Four Graces set a Beaumont and track record, finishing the 7-furlong race in 1:24.90.
Four Graces got a boost when the original 7-5 morning-line favorite, Speech, was scratched. Trainer Mike McCarthy decided to instead enter Speech in Saturday’s Ashland Stakes with an eye toward earning qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on Sept. 4.
“I was just watching Julien (Leparoux) and he hadn’t asked her,” trainer Ian Wilkes said after the race. “And watching the filly, she’s got her legs clicking back and forth so I was quite comfortable with her.”
Sconsin made a late move to shoot past the rest of the field, but Four Graces pulled away to win by 4 3/4 lengths. Turtle Trax finished third.
Four Graces paid out $3.40 for the win, $2.40 for place and $2.10 for show. Sconsin paid $3.20 and $2.40 and Turtle Trax paid $3.00.
Healthy handle
Despite a lack of spectators at Keeneland, bettors were clearly still following the action from a distance during the first three days of the Summer Meet.
Nearly $30 million was wagered on Keeneland’s races Wednesday through Friday. The total mutuel handle on Wednesday was $9,355,914.54. A total of $9,202,446.12 was wagered on Thursday’s contests, and bettors spent $10,827,139.14 on Friday’s card.
There are options available for those who want to bet on this weekend’s action at Keeneland. Using a desktop computer or smartphone application, fans can place wagers and follow the races. Search for Keeneland Select in the app store on your smartphone or visit Keeneland.com/select on your computer to set up an account that will allow you to deposit funds and place wagers.
You can also visit TVG.com or Twinspires.com to open a wagering account.
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 7:16 PM.
