Senada and Upperline, the respective winner and runner-up in the Rood & Riddle Dowager last fall over the Keeneland turf course, will meet again in the $150,000 Grey Goose Bewitch Stakes (gr. IIIT) April 26, the penultimate day of Keeneland’s 15-day spring meeting.
There were eight entries when the 1½-mile turf race for older fillies and mares was drawn April 22. The Bewitch, won last year by Keertana, is the eighth race on Thursday’s nine-race program with a post time of 4:42 p.m. EDT.
A 5-year-old daughter of Pulpit, Senada races for Lael Stables and is trained by Barclay Tagg. Winner of the 12-furlong Dowager by three-quarters of a length over Upperline, she is coming into the Bewitch off a seventh-place finish in the Orchid Stakes (gr. IIIT) March 31 at Gulfstream Park. Senada, who was bred in Kentucky by Arthur B. Hancock III's Stone Farm, is out of Hancock's multiple grade II winning homebred Owsley.
The Dowager victory Oct. 23 at odds of 16-1 snapped an 11-race losing streak for Senada. The dark bay mare has won just twice in 19 lifetime starts but also has four seconds and seven thirds in her career. She is the 121-pound co-highweight for the Bewitch with Here to Win and will be ridden from post 3 by Javier Castellano.
Senada is one of three in the Bewitch field that last raced in Gulfstream's 1 1/2-mile Orchid. Woodford Belle finished fourth and Shimmering Moment was sixth.
Upperline, trained and co-owned by Michael Stidham, has raced just once since the Dowager. The 5-year-old Maria's Mon mare finished second by a neck in the Bayou Handicap over a good turf at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots March 31. To be ridden again by James Graham, Upperline is co-owned by John Adger, Oakcrest Farm, and Stone Farm.
Trick or Treat International's Brazilian-bred mare Here to Win ships in from Florida. She captured the The Very One Stakes (gr. IIIT) at 11 furlongs by one length in her most recent start Feb. 25, her first win in three tries in the United States. Kiaran McLaughlin conditions the 6-year-old daughter of Roi Normand. Here to Win was the 2010 champion 3-year-old filly in South Africa. Joe Bravo retains the mount.
$150,000 Grey Goose Bewitch Stakes (gr. IIIT, Race 8, 4:42 p.m.), Fillies & Mares 4 & Up, 1 1/2 Miles (Turf)
PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer
1. Here to Win (BRZ), J Bravo, 121, K P McLaughlin
2. Shimmering Moment (KY), R Albarado, 119, F Abbott III
3. Senada (KY), J Castellano, 121, B Tagg
4. Woodford Belle (KY), J R Leparoux, 119, M Nihei
5. Upperline (KY), J Graham, 119, M Stidham
6. Distorted Alice (KY), V Lebron, 119, M Lestingi
7. Hemera (KY), M Pedroza, 119, G Dorochenko
8. Thislilsoulofmine (ON), G K Gomez, 119, R L Attfield
Senada
Mathea Kelley