Guide to Saturday’s $1 million Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland
Keeneland’s big Kentucky Derby prep race, the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, plays out Saturday evening on the race course’s opening weekend. Here’s everything you need to know to get set for the 98th running of the Blue Grass:
Post time: 5:10 p.m. (ninth race).
Purse: $1 million (Grade 1).
For: 3-year-olds.
Distance: 1 1/8 miles (dirt).
Derby points: 100-40-20-10.
TV: NBC (Broadcast runs from 4:30 to 6 p.m. and includes live coverage of Derby preps at Aqueduct and Santa Anita — the Wood Memorial and Santa Anita Derby). Broadcast of Blue Grass Stakes is also available on TVG.
Here’s a look at the field with morning-line odds for the 2022 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes:
1. Commandperformance (12-1)
Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.
Trainer: Todd Pletcher.
Owners: Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable.
Career record: 4 starts (0 firsts, 3 seconds, 0 thirds).
Career earnings: $226,400.
Kentucky Derby points: Six (42nd on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished second in a maiden special weight event on March 12 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Notable: Commandperformance has raced only once in 2022 but closed 2021 by finishing second in the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont and fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. Commandperformance will attempt to join Irap (2017) as the only maiden to win the Blue Grass.
2. Fenwick (20-1)
Jockey: Paco Lopez.
Trainer: Kevin McKathan.
Owners: Villa Rosa Farm and Harlo Stable.
Career record: 5 starts (1 first, 1 second, 0 thirds).
Career earnings: $41,340.
Kentucky Derby points: Zero.
Most recent race: Won a maiden special weight event on March 12 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Notable: A son of Hall of Famer Curlin, Fenwick is being saddled by his third trainer Saturday in his sixth career race, according to America’s Best Racing. Fenwick previously was under the guidance of Steve Asmussen for four starts and David Fisher for one.
3. Trademark (30-1)
Jockey: Rafael Bejarano.
Trainer: Vicki Oliver.
Owner: BBN Racing.
Career record: 6 starts (2 firsts, 1 second, 0 thirds).
Career earnings: $153,794
Kentucky Derby points: Zero.
Most recent race: Finished fifth in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 12 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Notable: BBN Racing and Oliver saddled their first Kentucky Derby entrant last year with Hidden Stash, who finished fourth in the Blue Grass and 14th in the Run for the Roses. The racing syndicate, which has been operating since 2018 and is named after Big Blue Nation, is looking for its first graded stakes victory Saturday.
4. Zandon (5-2)
Jockey: Flavien Prat.
Trainer: Chad Brown.
Owner: Jeff Drown.
Career record: 3 starts (1 first, 1 second, 1 third).
Career earnings: $139,500.
Kentucky Derby points: 14 (29th on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished third in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 19 at Fair Grounds.
Notable: Trainer Chad Brown will be seeking his second Blue Grass Stakes victory, having won with Good Magic in 2018. Brown also has a contender in Saturday’s Wood Memorial at Aqueduct with Early Voting.
5. Volcanic (20-1)
Jockey: Adam Beschizza.
Trainer: Mark Casse.
Owner: Breeze Easy.
Career record: 5 starts (1 first, 0 seconds, 2 thirds).
Career earnings: $70,300.
Kentucky Derby points: Two (57th on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished third in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes on Feb. 12 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Notable: Casse, who is also saddling Golden Glider in Saturday’s race, is one of three trainers with two contenders in the Blue Grass, joined by Todd Pletcher and Kenny McPeek. “I thought about splitting them up (to separate races) but the nice thing about the Blue Grass is that if they run well, we are already in Kentucky so there is less shipping,” Casse said.
6. Emmanuel (5-1)
Jockey: Luis Saez.
Trainer: Todd Pletcher.
Owner: WinStar Farm and Siena Farm.
Career record: 3 starts (2 firsts, 0 seconds, 0 thirds).
Career earnings: $69,600.
Kentucky Derby points: Five (44th on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished fourth in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes on March 5 at Gulfstream Park.
Notable: A son of leading sire More Than Ready, Emmanuel created immediate excitement in Pletcher’s barn by winning his first two career races by 6 3/4 lengths and 4 1/2 lengths but finished fourth as the 9-2 second choice in the Fountain of Youth and comes to Kentucky with something to prove.
7. Golden Glider (20-1)
Jockey: Ricardo Santana Jr.
Trainer: Mark Casse.
Owners: Gary Barber, Manfred Conrad and Penny Conrad.
Career record: 4 starts (2 firsts, 0 seconds, 0 thirds).
Career earnings: $72,872.
Kentucky Derby points: Five (46th on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished fourth in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 12 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Notable: If you like late runners, here’s one to watch. Golden Glider won his first two career races by moving from last place to first. He also started his career late, not taking to the track for the first time until Nov. 27 of last year.
8. Ethereal Road (15-1)
Jockey: Luis Contreras.
Trainer: D. Wayne Lukas.
Owner: Aaron Sones.
Career record: 5 starts (1 first, 1 second, 1 third).
Career earnings: $263,545.
Kentucky Derby points: 20 (24th on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished second in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes on Feb. 26 at Oaklawn Park.
Notable: A top-four finish could secure enough qualifying points to give Lukas his first starter in the Kentucky Derby since Bravazo in 2018. The 86-year-old Hall of Fame trainer has won the Run for the Roses four times.
9. Rattle N Roll (8-1)
Jockey: Brian Hernandez Jr.
Trainer: Kenny McPeek.
Owner: Lucky Seven Stable.
Career record: 6 starts (2 firsts, 0 seconds, 1 third).
Career earnings: $423,460.
Kentucky Derby points: 20 (23rd on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished fourth in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby on March 26 at Fair Grounds.
Notable: Rattle N Roll looked like a 2-year-old who could make some noise at 3 when he impressively won the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland last October. A foot injury knocked him out of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and he hasn’t shown the same form since. With rain predicted Saturday in Lexington, McPeek might have an ace up his sleeve. “I think he will like an off track and I want to run him in the mud,” the trainer said.
10. Smile Happy (9-5)
Jockey: Corey Lanerie.
Trainer: Kenny McPeek.
Owner: Lucky Seven Stable.
Career record: 3 starts (2 firsts, 1 second, 0 thirds).
Career earnings: $364,810.
Kentucky Derby points: 30 (17th on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished second in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 19 at Fair Grounds.
Notable: McPeek, a Lexington native, is seeking his third victory in the Blue Grass Stakes, having won previously with Harlan’s Holiday in 2002 and Java’s War in 2013. Smile Happy is the morning-line favorite for Saturday’s race.
11. Blackadder (20-1)
Jockey: Florent Geroux.
Trainer: Rodolphe Brisset.
Owner: SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert E. Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Jay A. Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital, Catherine Donovan, Golconda Stable, Siena Farm.
Career record: 4 starts (2 firsts, 0 seconds, 1 third).
Career earnings: $108,920.
Kentucky Derby points: Zero.
Most recent race: Won the El Camino Real Derby on Feb. 12 at Golden Gate Fields.
Notable: Blackadder was one of the four horses recently transferred out of suspended trainer Bob Baffert’s barn so that the colt would become eligible to earn qualifying points in time for the Kentucky Derby.
12. Grantham (15-1) — SCRATCHED
Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione.
Trainer: Mike Maker.
Owner: Three Diamonds Farm.
Career record: 4 starts (1 first, 2 seconds, 0 thirds).
Career earnings: $146,200.
Kentucky Derby points: 21 (20th on leaderboard).
Most recent race: Finished second in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 12 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Notable: Gaffalione, has won four riding titles at Keeneland, most recently the 2021 Fall Meet. “There’s just so much history here,” he said. “The feeling you get when walking on the grounds is like nothing else. . . . It could be a claiming race on a Wednesday, and that excitement is just always there.”
Scratched: Grantham was pulled from the Blue Grass on Saturday afternoon after reportedly suffering a minor ankle injury.
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 6:00 AM.