Fast-improving filly runs away with Ashland on a wild opening day at Keeneland
Todd Pletcher is at it again.
The legendary trainer has now joined Shug McGaughey, Stanley Rieser and B.B. Williams as the only trainers to win consecutive runnings of the Central Bank Ashland Stakes, and Pletcher etched his name among that group Friday.
After winning the 2021 race with Malathaat, the Pletcher-trained Nest won the 85th running of the $600,000, Grade 1 Ashland for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles in dominant fashion on opening day at Keeneland.
Nest won by 8 1/4 lengths.
The key prep race for fillies ahead of the Kentucky Oaks on May 6 awarded 170 total points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, with Nest claiming 100 points as the winner.
Nest already had 20 qualifying points entering Friday’s action, meaning that she is a lock to race in the Oaks.
Cocktail Moments in second place earned 40 qualifying points, Interstatedaydream in third place earned 20 points and Awake At Midnyte in fourth place earned 10.
A total of 35 fillies who raced in the Ashland have gone on to win the Oaks, including Malathaat last year.
Pletcher will now be gunning for consecutive Oaks victories to go along with consecutive Ashland triumphs.
“It was everything we could have hoped for,” Pletcher said. “She’s a filly that’s improved all the time. She was able to win her debut going a mile and a sixteenth, which you don’t see many horses do. We’ve always felt like as she matured and the races got longer, she was going to get better.”
Previously run on opening weekend Saturday, the Ashland was moved to opening day this year.
Nest’s commanding win also completed a big day for jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who was aboard winners in both the Ashland and the Kentucky Utilities Transylvania, two stakes races that were held consecutively late Friday afternoon.
“I wasn’t afraid to move a little early. She was doing it easy, and she responded really well,” Ortiz said of Nest.
Ortiz has been aboard Nest for all four of her wins, and Nest was now won four of five career starts.
The morning-line favorite now has a pair of impressive 2022 wins on her ledger ahead of the Oaks.
Nest began the year by winning the Suncoast by 6 lengths at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 12.
Cocktail Moments, the second-place finisher, is trained by Lexington’s Kenny McPeek.
“I’m really pleased with her run. She’s a big strong filly, and we thought that she would run well,” McPeek said, adding that it is not known if Cocktail Moments will run in the Oaks.
Sy Dog tops Transylvania
Ortiz’s first stakes win of the day came just before the Ashland, when he rode Sy Dog to victory in the $400,000, Grade 3 Transylvania for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on turf.
Sy Dog captured the win by three-fourths of a length over Grand Sonata, who finished a half-length in front of third-place Coinage. Napoleonic War was fourth by a neck.
Earlier this week, Sy Dog’s trainer, Graham Motion, told Keeneland the race was a big step up for the horse and expressed potential concern about the state of Keeneland’s turf course due to Friday’s expected wet weather.
But hail, rain and sleet was less than expected ahead of the Transylvania, and the turf course held up well.
Sy Dog benefited.
“My horse was traveling perfect the whole race. At the three-eighths pole, I thought it was time to pick it up,” Ortiz said. “I decided to move a little early, take him out and go from there. He did everything I asked for. He was ready.”
Old Homestead first in Lafayette
The first stakes race of the 2022 Keeneland Spring Meet was the Lafayette, run on a muddy track as sunshine began to creep in overhead.
The race for 3-year-olds that went 7 furlongs was won by Old Homestead, with Surfer Dude in second, Osbourne in third and My Prankster, the morning-line favorite, in fourth.
Old Homestead, ridden by Thomas Pompell and trained by Brett Brinkman, won from post-position three and claimed the triumph by 3 3/4 lengths.
The victory was Pompell’s first at Keeneland since the 2010 Fall Meet.
He called it the best win of his career.
Ortiz, the jockey who won the Transylvania and the Ashland, finished second aboard Surfer Dude.
This was the 74th running of the Lafayette as it made its return to the Keeneland race card.
The Lafayette was a a fixture during Spring Meets from 1937 to 2008, and then the race returned for older horses in both 2015 and 2020 as part of Breeders’ Cup undercard races.
Sleet, hail, wind and sun
Each day during the Spring Meet, Keeneland will limit daily attendance to about 20,000 fans, as it did last fall.
Keeneland did not announce attendance figures from Friday’s opening day.
The expected cold and wet weather came and went throughout the afternoon.
There were periods of bitterly cold rain and wind, along with passing sleet and hail storms that wreaked havoc in patches.
But there were also moments when the sun peaked through the clouds and offered a burst of light on the track.
Pricing error
Friday’s fifth race featured a significant pricing error for bettors.
The race results saw Healing win, followed by Red Hornet, Rochambeau and Myopic.
However, the race was incorrectly priced with the finishing order of Healing, Rochambeau, Red Hornet and then Myopic.
Racing was delayed at Keeneland for about 20 minutes while the issue was resolved, and a message from Keeneland displayed to spectators read that “any tickets already cashed with the incorrect running order will be honored.”
Later in the afternoon, Keeneland issued a statement regarding the error.
“In today’s fifth race at Keeneland, the order of finish was inadvertently posted as 3-8-9-10. The correct order of finish for the race is 3-9-8-10,” the statement read. “Any tickets that were cashed on track before the corrected order of finish have been honored. The race was repriced and the correct running order prices are official.”
Keeneland released another statement Friday night.
“Officials have determined the error in today’s fifth race was due to United Tote operator error. While safeguards to prevent this from happening are in place, additional measures are being taken to create further checks and balances,” the statement read. “As previously announced, any tickets that were cashed on track before the corrected order of finish have been honored. Advance Deposit Wagering (ADW) accounts, including NYRA Bets, TVG, TwinSpires and Xpressbet will be adjusted to reflect the correct pricing.”
The delay threw post times off for the remainder of the afternoon.
For example, the Lafayette was scheduled to have a post time of 4:12 p.m., but instead went off at 4:30 p.m.
The Transylvania’s post time moved from 4:44 p.m. to 5:02 and the Ashland’s post time moved from 5:16 p.m. to 5:34.
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 8:18 PM.
