Fall Stars Weekend: Keeneland's kickoff filled with flashy races

Opening weekend graded stakes

FRIDAY

Grade III, $200,000 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes for 3-year-olds and up, 6 furlongs: Graded stakes winner Bern Identity brings a three-race win streak against a field of seven rivals.

Grade I, $400,000 Darley Alcibiades for 2-year-old fillies, 11⁄16 miles: Grade I winner Fashion Alert seeks to give six-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher his first Alcibiades win when she heads a field of 13 entered.

SATURDAY

Grade III, $150,000 Woodford Stakes for 3-year-olds and up, 51/2 furlongs (turf): Group I winner No Nay Never makes his first start since finishing second in the Grade II Swale Stakes in March against a field of 10 challengers.

Grade II, $200,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, 6 furlongs: A well-matched field of eight goes to post featuring Stonetastic, winner of the Grade II Prioress Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 30.

Grade I, $400,000 First Lady Stakes for fillies and mares 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile (turf): Five Grade I winners, including defending race heroine Better Lucky, are featured in this nine-horse field. Centre Court won the 2013 Grade I Jenny Wiley over the Keeneland turf while Dayatthespa was victorious in the 2012 Grade I Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.

Grade I, $500,000 Claiborne Breeders' Futurity for 2-year-olds, 11⁄16 miles: Bold Conquest enters this against 11 others off a runner-up finish in the Grade III Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs on Sept. 6.

Grade I, $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile for 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile (turf): Two-time defending Horse of the Year and 2012 Shadwell Mile winner Wise Dan is the 4-5 morning-line choice in a field of eight to notch his 11th career Grade I victory.

SUNDAY

Grade III, $250,000 Dixiana Bourbon Stakes for 2-year-olds, 11⁄16 miles (turf): Cross-entered in the Breeders' Futurity, Conquest Tsunami looks to stay unbeaten in five career starts as he heads a field of nine entered.

Grade I, $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, 11⁄8 miles: Multiple Grade I winner Close Hatches is unbeaten in four starts this year, but graded stakes winner Don't Tell Sophia looms as her top threat in this six-horse field.

ALICIA WINCZE HUGHES

This story was originally published October 2, 2014 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Fall Stars Weekend: Keeneland's kickoff filled with flashy races."