Keeneland | Horse Racing Free Tips

Keeneland Adds The Hill Experience To Sundays During Spring Meet

As a nod to the growing popularity of tailgating on The Hill, Keeneland will expand the traditional Friday/Saturday schedule to now include Sundays during the Spring Meet. No ticket or reservation is required. Fans can watch the racing action via a jumbo TV and place their bets in a wagering tent with live music and food trucks nearby.

Concerning tickets for its upcoming Spring Meet, to be held Apr. 7-28, those will go on sale Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 9 a.m. ET. A variety of options for Dining, Grandstand reserved seating and General Admission are available, and all tickets must be pre-purchased via Keeneland's Official Online Ticket Office.

“Thanks to our equine community, including our fans, Keeneland enjoyed a historic racing year in 2022, and we are excited to continue to build on that momentum,” Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said. “The Keeneland team is busy finalizing plans for the spring, and we can't wait to welcome guests in just a few short weeks for what we know will be a terrific racing season.”

The 15-day Spring Meet offers racing Wednesdays through Sundays, except Easter Sunday, Apr. 9. Post time is 1 p.m. daily.

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Champion Elite Power to Return on Saudi Cup Undercard

Recently crowned champion sprinter Elite Power (Curlin) will launch his 5-year-old campaign in the $1.5-million G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint on the Saudi Cup undercard Feb. 25.

The Juddmonte colorbearer capped a five-race winning streak with a powerful, come-from-behind victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland last out Nov. 5. Elite Power, a $900,000 Keeneland September graduate, has posted five workouts for Hall of Famer Bill Mott since the beginning of the new year at Payson Park, including a five-furlong breeze in 1:02.80 (4/8) Feb. 2.

“He had his program tailored out pretty much immediately after the Breeders' Cup that we would go to the Saudi Cup Sprint,” Juddmonte USA General Manager Garrett O'Rourke said.

“Bill [Mott] gave him a little break and has him back in full work now and everything is–touch wood–on target. The horse is doing well and looking good. He seems in great form.”

Looking further ahead this season, O'Rourke added, “I want to clarify it with [Juddmonte] first, but, at the moment, the plan is for him to come back [to the U.S. afterwards] and look to an end-of-the-season campaign. Give him a little break, target some of the summer races and work on up to Breeders' Cup.”

Juddmonte, founded by the late Saudi Prince Khalid bin Abdullah in 1980, was represented in all three prior runnings of the card's main event with MGSW & MGISP Tacitus (Tapit) (fifth, 2020; and seventh, 2021) and promoted GI Kentucky Derby winner Mandaloun (Into Mischief) (ninth, 2022).

“It's building into a magnificent event and slotting right into the international racing schedule,” O'Rourke said. “By the time you finish with the Breeders' Cup, you're thinking about the Saudi Cup. It's nice to be able to share our best horses and be able to take on the elite of the world at international events like this. The Saudi Cup is firmly established now as that type of an event.”

Juddmonte homebred Laurel River (Into Mischief), meanwhile, scratched by regulatory veterinarians the day before last year's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, has been given the green light to resume training with Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. The 5-year-old was last seen recording a career high in Del Mar's GII Pat O'Brien S. last summer.

“We gave him 60 days of doing nothing and another 60 days of just bringing him back slowly and he's here on the farm now and galloping every day,” O'Rourke said. “We checked him out then, we've checked him out again now and everything checks out perfectly fine. He's going back to Bob Baffert in the next week. We always do the right thing by our horses and I'm very confident that the horse is absolutely 100 percent. He's a very capable and talented horse.”

He concluded, “The value of having scrutiny of horses going into big events has been a huge boost to the public's confidence that we're doing all the right things. We will always stand by and respect the decisions that the professionals make.”

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Keeneland Bid Spotter Pete McCormick Dies At 75

Pete McCormick, a longtime Keeneland bid spotter and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, passed away Thursday at the age of 75. A native of Ontario, California, Pete was just a boy when given his first job in the auction business from Tom Caldwell, the longtime head auctioneer at Keeneland, who took McCormick under his wing.

“The Keeneland family mourns the passing of Pete McCormick, who was an iconic presence in the Keeneland Sales Pavilion during his four decades as a bid spotter,” Keeneland said Friday in a statement. “Pete famously said, 'My life is the auction business,' and he was widely respected by colleagues and horsemen for his tireless work ethic, professionalism and devotion to his craft. He would arrive at the sale two to three hours before the auction began to walk the barns, talking to buyers and consignors and getting to know the horses. His extensive knowledge and his demeanor won him a legion of fans, many of them buyers at the highest level, who showed their confidence in Pete by sitting in his area of the ring to place their bids. He was their good-luck charm.”

“Keeneland extends its deepest condolences to Pete's family, especially his son, Ken. He will be greatly missed.”

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Dirt Sprinters Goodnight Olive, Elite Power Take Home Eclipse Hardware

Breeders' Cup Sprint champions in their races, both Goodnight Olive and Elite Power turned heads, as they rattled off a string of quality victories.

GOODNIGHT OLIVE
Goodnight Olive brought a salty four-race win streak into her stakes debut and then promptly reeled off two of the biggest Grade I prizes for female sprinters, making her a no-brainer choice for Eclipse champion female sprinter.

She debuted in 2021 with a runner-up finish in a Gulfstream maiden, then went to the sidelines for seven months, never to lose again. The dark bay reappeared at Keeneland's 2021 fall meet with an 8 1/2-length maiden score, followed it up with a nine-length allowance win at Aqueduct, and then took another seven-month break. She hadn't lost a step upon return this past June, smartly taking back-to-back allowances at Belmont and Saratoga by open lengths. Up against three Grade I winners, including reigning champion female sprinter Ce Ce (Elusive Quality), for her coming-out party in the GI Ballerina, Goodnight Olive was sent off at 5-1 but surged clear in the stretch to win with aplomb. Although lightly raced coming into the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, she again overpowered her foes, sizzled to a 101 Beyer Speed Figure, and kept her 2022 season flawless. In addition to her Eclipse as female sprinter, she was also a finalist for older dirt female.

Trainer Chad Brown has said Goodnight Olive is much like her Horse of the Year sire, not necessarily touted for soundness, but certainly for brilliance. Steve Laymon, founder of co-owner First Row Partners, won his second Eclipse as he also co-owned Dayatthespa (City Zip), champion grass mare of 2014.

Goodnight Olive got some time off following the Breeders' Cup and is gearing up for a 5-year-old campaign.

Early Impressions…
“A nice filly and a later-maturing type. We thought she would stand out in October and benefit from the additional time.” –John Moynihan, Stonestreet's bloodstock advisor

“Goodnight Olive really stood out to me at Fasig October. She was on the final day of the four-day sale, but once we saw her early on we knew we had to wait patiently to try and get her purchased. She was a bit offset but had so much athleticism in the way she moved and a lot of class with some edginess. She was on the smaller side (not anymore), but being almost a May foal and by Ghostzapper she was big enough. She had just enormous potential and she has certainly lived up to all of our expectations and then some.” –Liz Crow, agent for First Row Partners

–Jill Williams

ELITE POWER
A winner of five of his last six starts in 2022, Elite Power topped off his season with a defeat of both MGSW & MGISP C Z Rocket (City Zip) and last year's Eclipse champion Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) in the GI Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Though he didn't break his maiden until June, Elite Power went on a hot streak through the summer, working his way up the ranks with two wins against allowance company before stepping up in dominating fashion to take the GII Vosburgh S. at Belmont's Aqueduct meeting by 5 1/4 lengths Oct. 8.

Drawn mid pack as a 5-1 shot behind heavily favored Jackie's Warrior in the Sprint, Elite Power took his time early on under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., racing seventh as Super Ocho (Chi) (Dubai Sky) paced the field through tiring fractions of :22.12 and :44.99. Steadily advancing while three wide around the turn, Elite Power came running from the middle of the track to overtake the leaders with a sixteenth to run, hitting the wire 1 1/4 lengths ahead of his rivals.

“I had the perfect trip,” Ortiz, Jr. said of his Breeders' Cup ride aboard Elite Power. “He broke real sharp and I let him settle. I let the speed go. I was able to cut the corner around the turn. When I tipped him out, he was there for me. He kept going forward. He gave me a really good kick from the quarter-pole to the wire. He's a nice horse. I rode him with a lot of confidence.”

A $900,000 yearling for Juddmonte out of the Lane's End consignment, Elite Power beat out another son of Curlin and Mott trainee in Cody's Wish (Curlin) for the award. He remains in training for the 2023 season and most recently worked four furlongs in :48.80 (1/17) Jan. 25.

–Stefanie Grimm

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