Lady Eli Headlines Star-Studded Turf Works at Keeneland

Multiple grade 1 winner and sentimental favorite Lady Eli was the headline performer during a star-studded morning of turf workers at Keeneland April 9 with the dark bay mare turning in a sharp five-furlong drill in advance of her seasonal bow in the April 15 Coolmore Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T).

The Keeneland course could have doubled for an equine All-Star game Sunday with the likes of grade/group 1 winners Catch a Glimpse, Time and Motion, and Lady Aurelia all turning in moves for expected runs during the Spring meet. 

With her regular exercise rider Walter Malasquez aboard and accompanied by workmate Roca Rojo, Lady Eli was among the first to hit the turf. Malasquez had his hands full trying to hold daughter of Divine Park as they got set for their five-furlong drill, eventually breaking off just in front of Roca Rojo and finishing up on even terms in 1:02 2/5.

"They both breezed great. They went terrific so I was real happy with them both," trainer Chad Brown said. "(Lady Eli) has been training so well in South Florida, I just wanted her to have a recent breeze over the turf course here as she hasn't run on it since she was a 3-year-old and every course is a little different. I took advantage of the opportunity to let her get her footing on it."

Lady Eli captured the Appalachian Stakes Presented by Japan Racing Association (G3T) at Keeneland in 2015, two starts before her life and career were nearly cut short when she contracted laminitis in both front feet after stepping on a nail shortly after her victory in that year's Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1T).

The 5-year-old mare remarkably beat that often fatal disease and returned to top-level form last season, winning the Flower Bowl Stakes (G1T) in her second start back and falling just a nose short of victory in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) in November. 

Owned by Sheep Pond Partners, Lady Eli will be the likely favorite in what figures to be a gangbusters edition of the upcoming Jenny Wiley. 

Phillips Racing Partnership's Time and Motion is among those slated to be in the gate for the 1 1/16-mile test and enjoyed her best moment at Keeneland last October when she won a memorable edition of the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes Presented by Lane's End (G1T). The 4-year-old Tapit   filly put in her final serious paces for the Jenny Wiley, working a half mile in :52 2/5 Sunday with Jose Ortiz up.

"She worked great. We wanted Jose to get used to her," said Tiffany Webb, assistant to Time and Motion's trainer, Jimmy Toner. "He rode her before as a 2-year-old but she's very different now. We wanted an easy work, she's been putting in some really nice, fast works down at Palm Meadows. We just wanted a good easy move ... and she came home in :24, which is perfect."

The Jenny Wiley will mark the season debut for Time and Motion, who wrapped up her 3-year-old campaign by finishing sixth against older fillies in the Matriarch Stakes (G1T) at Del Mar last December.

Canadian champion Catch a Glimpse will be joining Time and Motion and Lady Eli in the Jenny Wiley, and is trying to snap a four-race losing skid. The 4-year-old City Zip   filly covered four furlongs in :50 2/5 Sunday with exercise rider E.J. Bowler up and most recently ran second to fellow grade 1 winner Celestine in the March 4 Sand Spring Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

"She was just out for a little stroll and we told E. J. on the radio at the top of the lane just to let her pick it up a little bit, and she did," said trainer Mark Casse. "She's been pretty steady. The only race she ran that was really strange was last fall (seventh in the Queen Elizabeth at Keeneland). But I said all along, I thought the turf course last fall was a little different. It was so dry. This turf course feels like the old turf course."

Cartier Award-winner Lady Aurelia prepped for her expected start in the April 15 Giant's Causeway Stakes with a snappy five-furlong drill in :59 Sunday.