Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland Race Course
Las Vegas, NV - Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky will play host to the 52nd running of the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes this Thursday, April 25. Fillies and mares four years old and upward will be featured as they go 1 1/2 miles on Keeneland's turf track for a purse of $150,000.
The Bewitch has attracted a large field of 12 older females for race 8 on Keeneland's mid-week Thursday schedule. Post time is 4: 42 PM. Let's take a brief glance into the past performances of all 12 combatants for this Grade 3 long distance stakes.
2013 Bewitch Stakes Race Favorites
Regalo Mia - is coming off an impressive win in the Grade 3 Orchid Stakes at the Bewitch distance March 30 after a win in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Stakes January 19 - both wins at Gulfstream. She ended 2012 with her only off-the-board finish - an ugly ninth in the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere at Churchill Downs in November. Regalo Mia has three wins, three seconds and three third place finishes in 10 career starts, and is the most accomplished of the Bewitch entries. Two straight impressive wins has her looking like the one to beat Thursday.
Gathering - won an Allowance here in impressive fashion by 3 3/4 lengths as favorite over the like of Dyarama in her North American debut April 6 after a win and three third place finishes in six starts overseas. She left Europe after finishing third in two straight stakes races and didn't disappoint in her first start in North America.
Bewitch Stakes 2013 | Remaining Field Entries
Stranthnaver - H. Graham Motion pupil makes her second start on North American soil after two wins and a second place finish in nine starts in Britain. Her American debut was a good one - an Allowance Optional Claiming score at Gulfstream March 16 in record time for 1 3/16 miles on turf.
Qushchi - another H. Graham Motion trained British-bred mare has 21 starts overseas with three wins, two seconds and three third place finishes before debuting in North America March 7. She finished third in an Allowance Optional Claiming at Gulfstream and followed that with a second last time out to Scampering in another Allowance Optional Claiming April 5 also at Gulfstream. She starts from the rail.
Angegreen - Italian-bred Filly had three wins and two second place finishes in eight starts at home before shipping to North America. She debuted in America with a twelfth in the Grade 3 Pucker Up Stakes at Arlington Park in September and followed that with a pair of sixths in minor stakes action. 2013 has been much better for the H. Graham Motion trainee - consecutive seconds - the Grade 3 The Very One Stakes February 16 and the Grade 3 Orchid Stakes behind Regalo Mia March 30 - both results at Gulfstream.
Scampering - has just seven career starts for trainer Claude McGaughey with three wins and two second place finishes. She enters the Bewitch having won two of her last three starts - both Allowance Optional Claiming races - the last coming last time out April 5 at Gulfstream. Thursday marks Scampering's graded stakes debut.
Alaura Michele - is a multiple stakes winner for trainer Dale Romans that has struggled lately -a sixth last time out in the Grade 3 Hillsborough at Tampa Bay Downs March 9 followed a fifth in an Allowance Optional Claiming at Gulfstream February 7 and a tenth in the Grade 3 Pin Oak Valley View Stakes in October. Before that was a sixth at the Given Stakes and a third in the Riskaverse Stakes. She had two wins in three races early in 2012 - the P.G. Johnson and Nani Rose Stakes and has three wins and one third place finish in 10 career starts. But Alaura Michele has failed to place in her last four starts overall.
Bewitch Stakes betting at Keeneland Race Course with OffTrackBetting.com
Kissable - Irish bred filly made her North American debut in the Grade 2 Dance Smartly and finished fifth but followed that with a win in the minor Richmor Aviation Waya Stakes over Starformer at Saratoga August 6. She followed that with a decent third in the Grade 3 Glens Falls Stakes at Saratoga September 3 and a fourth in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine October 14. Last time out was her worst result since 2011 however - a seventh in the Grade 3 Long Island Handicap at Aqueduct November 10.
Revelstoke - stakes winner had a two race win streak in the summer but has placed in just one of four starts since - last time out was a third in an Allowance here April 7. Before that was a sixth in the Grade 3 Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs November 10 and a distant seventh in the minor Rood and Riddle Dowager Stakes here in October. She has six wins, five seconds and six third place finishes in 28 career starts.
And Why Not - raced to a seventh in last year's Gulfstream Oaks and followed that with a ninth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks and on OK third on the minor Go for Wand Stakes in June but has focused on Allowance races since. Last time out was a second in an Allowance Optional Claiming at Gulfstream March 13 after a six month layoff. Prior to the layoff she has had a seventh and an eighth in a pair of Allowance races.
Charming She Is - makes her first start of the year Thursday. She ended 2012 with a ninth in an Allowance Optional Claiming at Churchill Downs in November and a tenth in the minor Rood and Riddle Dowager Stakes here in October. She had a nice Allowance score here in October after a decent second in the Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon Stakes in September but hasn't been the same since those two results.
Dynarama - makes her stakes debut for trainer Helen Pitts after a win in a MSW three back, a third two back in an Allowance Optional Claiming February 9 and a second last time out in an Allowance here March 6.
