“He's getting more mature and he's gotten better every start,” said winning trainer Rob Atras of his charge. “He had beaten arguably some lesser competition and today was a tough test, and he really showed up today. Honestly, I just think [jockey] Reylu [Gutierrez] did a great job. He had a tough time going into the first turn with him and obviously causing some havoc on the backside. He got him settled down and relaxed and really finished strong.”

Coming off a daylight win after settling the pace in the Bob Bork Texas Turf Mile S. Jan. 27 at Sam Houston, Neat was in the first flight early in the Transylvania and just a head off the call at the first fraction–a quarter in :23.98–while rank and visibly fighting Reylu Gutierrez before settling.

Gutierrez was able to ease the chestnut back on the inside, opening it up for the well-traveled Musical Act (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), second Mar. 2 in Dubai in the Jumeirah Classic, to take control with Cugino joining him soon after. Turning for home, Neat found his share of traffic while still covered up in fifth. An eighth from home and still in search of a seam, he split horses, just collaring Cugino from the inside at the last possible second after Musical Act surrendered and Lagynos surged while wide.

“Sometimes these 3-year-olds go through the holes and sometimes they don't,” said Gutierrez. “From the three-eighths pole it was all the horse. It was really tight down there but we waited as long as we could and when he saw that little bit of space, I mean, he certainly overcame me. It was all the horse.”

After two victories at this distance on the turf at both Laurel and Fair Grounds last year at two, Neat closed out 2023 with his lone main track attempt in the Gun Runner S. in New Orleans. He finished well back in sixth that day behind Track Phantom (Quality Road), also dropping his Beyer figure by 24 points. It was back to grass for the Texas Turf Mile, making Neat unbeaten in two starts at three with a four-for-five career tally on the grass.

Last year's Transylvania winner, BBN Racing's Mo Stash (Mo Town), was back again for Keeneland's opening day, winning a 5 1/2-furlong turf allowance earlier on Friday's card in his first win since the race last year.

Pedigree Notes:

Hidden Brook Farm and Spruce Lane Farm together bred Neat in Kentucky and sold him to Andrew N. Warren as a Keeneland November weanling for $200,000. The colt returned to the same ring the next September, bringing the same price from Red White and Blue. Hidden Brook had purchased his unraced dam while she was carrying to Violence for $62,000 at Keeneland's 2015 November sale. That foal would become SW & MGSP Louder Than Bombs. The mare, who hails from the same family as 2010 GI Spinaway S. winner R Heat Lightning (Trippi), has a 2-year-old filly by Nyquist–sold for $80,000 to Hat Creek Racing at Keeneland September–and a yearling filly by Medaglia d'Oro. Orabella aborted her 2024 foal.

Neat becomes the 33rd graded winner for WinStar stallion Constitution, a MGISW and son of Tapit who also has 64 black-type winners and will send just his sixth crop to the races this year. The late More Than Ready, broodmare sire of the Transylvania winner, was also part of the WinStar stallion roster and has 174 stakes winners worldwide out of his daughters.

That finish was pretty neat! #4 NEAT ($28.82) squeezed between rivals in the final furlong, getting up in the last stride to win @keenelandracing's $400,000 Transylvania Stakes (G3)!

Reylu Gutierrez was aboard for trainer Rob Atras and Red White and Blue Racing. pic.twitter.com/uSwbO0h4gu

— TVG (@TVG) April 5, 2024

Friday, Keeneland
TRANSYLVANIA S. PRESENTED BY KEENELAND SELECT-GIII, $397,263, Keeneland, 4-5, 3yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:44.93, gd.
1–NEAT, 118, c, 3, by Constitution
                1st Dam: Orabella, by More Than Ready
                2nd Dam: Hot Trip, by Trippi
                3rd Dam: Yellow Heat, by Gold Fever
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($200,000 Wlg '21 KEENOV;
$200,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Red White and Blue Racing LLC;
B-Hidden Brook Farm & Spruce Lane Farm (KY); T-Rob Atras;
J-Reylu Gutierrez. $226,300. Lifetime Record: 6-4-0-0,
$347,900. *1/2 to Louder Than Bombs (Violence), SW &
MGSP, $264,554. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Cugino, 118, c, 3, Twirling Candy–Adorable Miss, by Kitten's
Joy. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($225,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP).
O-West Point Thoroughbreds and Jimmy Kahig LLC; B-Gage Hill
Stables, LLC & W. S. Farish (KY); T-Claude R. McGaughey III.
$73,000.
3–Lagynos, 118, c, 3, Kantharos–Steamy, by Speightstown.
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($200,000 Ylg '22
KEESEP). O-HRH Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud; B-Robert
Spiegel (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $36,500.
Margins: NO, HF, 1. Odds: 13.41, 5.23, 31.75.
Also Ran: Lord Bullingdon, Musical Act (Ire), Can Group, Depiction, Guy Named Joe, First World War, Full Nelson, Oscar's World, Tennessee. Scratched: Camaro Z, Royal Majesty (GB).
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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The Transylvania will go as the ninth race with a 5:30 p.m. post time.

Trained by Mike Maker, who saddled Field Pass to a victory in the 2020 Transylvania, Fire At Will returns to the turf after finishing eighth in the Fountain of Youth (G2) on dirt in his most recent start. Tyler Gaffalione has the mount and will break from post position four.

Top threats to Fire At Will could come from Bantry Farms' Barrister Tom, winner of the More Than Ready Juvenile at Kentucky Downs last fall, and Stuart Janney III's Scarlett Sky, runner-up in the Palm Beach (L) at Gulfstream Park in his most recent start.

Trained by Michael Ewing, Barrister Tom will be making his 2021 debut and break from post five under Drayden Van Dyke.

Joel Rosario has the mount on Scarlett Sky and will break from post one for trainer Shug McGaughey, who won the 2011 Transylvania with Air Support.

The field for the Transylvania, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Scarlett Sky (Rosario, 118 pounds), Palazzi (Chris Landeros, 120), Breadman (Luis Saez, 118), Fire At Will (Gaffalione, 123), Barrister Tom (Van Dyke, 120) and Earls Rock (IRE) (Florent Geroux, 120).

Erich Brehm's My Girl Red, stylish winner of last summer's Sorrento (G2) at Del Mar, headlines a field of seven 3-year-old fillies entered Monday for Friday's 36th running of the $150,000 Beaumont (G3) Presented by Keeneland Select.

Run over the Beard Course of 7 furlongs, 184 feet, the Beaumont offers 17 points toward the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) on a 10-4-2-1 scale to the first- through fourth-place finishers.

The Beaumont will go as the afternoon's eighth race with a 4:57 p.m. post time. First post time for Friday's 10-race program that opens the 15-day Spring Meet is 1:05.

Trained by Keith Desormeaux, My Girl Red will be making her 2021 debut on Friday. James Graham will be aboard for the first time and break from post one.

Two fillies coming out of Florida may provide challenges to My Girl Red.

West Point Thoroughbreds, John Ballantyne, William Freeman and Michael Valdes' Lady Traveler finished second in the Forward Gal (G3) at Gulfstream in her most recent start on dirt. Trained by Dale Romans, Lady Traveler will break from post five under Corey Lanerie.

G. Watts Humphrey Jr.'s Farsighted, winner of the Any Limit at Gulfstream in her most recent start, returns to Keeneland where she broke her maiden last fall before running second in the Songbird on the Breeders' Cup's Future Stars Friday undercard. Julien Leparoux has the mount and will break from post three.

The field for the Beaumont, with riders and weights from the rail out, is: My Girl Red (Graham, 120 pounds), Slumber Party (Joel Rosario, 118), Farsighted (Julien Leparoux, 118), Amalfi Princess (Tyler Gaffalione, 118), Lady Traveler (Lanerie, 118), Cilla (Colby Hernandez, 118) and Twenty Carat (Luis Saez, 118).

Lindy Farms and Ice Wine Stable's Fauci, never worse than second in four career starts, will begin his 2021 campaign Friday when he headlines a field of 10 3-year-olds entered Monday for the second running of the $100,000 Palisades Turf Sprint going 5½ furlongs on the grass.

The Palisades Turf Sprint will go as the seventh race Friday afternoon with a 4:24 p.m. post time.

Trained by Wesley Ward, Fauci ran second to stablemates Golden Pal in the Skidmore at Saratoga and Outadore in the Juvenile Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs to close his 2020 campaign.

Tyler Gaffalione has the mount on Fauci and will break from post position eight.

Returning to Keeneland, where he won the Indian Summer (L) Presented by Keeneland Select last October, is Kristin Boice and Marylou Holden's Bodenheimer.

Trained by Valorie Lund, Bodenheimer closed 2020 with an eighth-place finish behind Golden Pal in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2) here. Brian Hernandez Jr. will be back aboard and break from post two.

The field for the Palisades Turf Sprint, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Lookin for Loki (Mitchell Murrill, 118 pounds), Bodenheimer (Hernandez, 120), Chasing Artie (Joel Rosario, 118), Blameworthy (Florent Geroux, 118), Smokin' Jay (Luis Saez, 118), Rustler (Corey Lanerie, 118), Unitedandresolute (James Graham, 118), Fauci (Gaffalione, 118), Lock Up (Drayden Van Dyke, 118) and J C's Champ (Emmanuel Esquivel, 118).

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