Opening Day at Keeneland Features Pair of Graded Stakes

The Grade 3 Phoenix Stakes, carded as race 8, features the exciting three year-old Runhappy (9/5) against last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint champ Work All Week (2/1) who bookend a competitive and classy 12-horse field. Runhappy, trained by the unheralded Maria Borell, emerged from obscurity to win the Grade 1 King’s Bishop last out while posting a mammoth 113 Beyer Speed Figure. Work All Week was an easy winner of a listed stakes August 1 at Mountaineer to pick up his first win of the year. 

Long-shots appeal in Phoenix 

The lightening-quick Fast Anna (15/1), Alsvid (15/1) and Sharp Sensation (30/1) have the look of live longshots, while Holy Boss (4/1) is a logical contender for trainer Steve Asmussen despite falling six lengths short of Runhappy in the King’s Bishop.

Alcibiades attracts full field 

The Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades for two year-old fillies going a mile and a sixteenth is the 9^th race on the card with an equally contentious group of 11 set to head postward at 5:30 EST. Dothraki Queen (5/2) could be a vulnerable favorite despite her 2 for 2 start and last-out win in the Grade 2 Pocahontas Stakes at Chruchill Downs. The Kenny McPeek-trained filly was the beneficiary of a perfect rail trip and caught a field lacking any two-turn race experience.