Odds and Contenders
2024 Blue Grass Stakes
Betting Guide
2024 Blue Grass Stakes Betting
By TVG Staff
Updated April 2, 2024
The boutique spring season at Keeneland is one of the highlights of the racing year, with many graded stakes packed into a three-week meeting. Keeneland is a beautiful venue, and some of the best three-year-old Thoroughbred horses will gather for the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) on April 6, 2024. Covering nine furlongs on dirt, the Grade 1, $1 million race is one of the most important of the Kentucky Derby prep season. It typically produces multiple Kentucky Derby starters, given the 100-50-25-15-10 points available to the top five finishers in the eleven-horse field.
Precisely 19 horses have turned a run in the Blue Grass Stakes into victory in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, including 10 runners who won both races: Shut Out (1942), Tomy Lee (1959), Chateaugay (1963), Northern Dancer (1964), Lucky Debonair (1965), Forward Pass (1968), Dust Commander (1970), Riva Ridge (1972), Spectacular Bid (1979), and Strike the Gold (1991).
Street Sense was the most recent to prep in the Blue Grass, winning the Derby in 2007. However, even more recently, money finishers in the Derby have come out of the Blue Grass. This includes third-place Derby finisher Zandon, who won the 2022 Blue Grass, as well as 2021 winner Essential Quality, who won the Blue Grass as well.
Blue Grass Stakes Odds
The 2024 Blue Grass drew a field of 11 sophomores, an intriguing mix of proven stakes horses and new faces trying to make it into the field just in time. These are the runners in post-position order, including their trainers, jockeys, and morning-line odds.
| Post | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Top Conor | Chad Brown | Jose Ortiz | 15-1 |
| 2 | Be You | Todd Pletcher | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | 8-1 |
| 3 | Seize the Grey | D. Wayne Lukas | Nik Juarez | 20-1 |
| 4 | Dornoch | Danny Gargan | Luis Saez | 3-1 |
| 5 | Good Money | Chad Brown | Javier Castellano | 20-1 |
| 6 | Just a Touch | Brad Cox | Florent Geroux | 7-2 |
| 7 | Lat Long | Kenny McPeek | Brian Hernandez, Jr. | 30-1 |
| 8 | Epic Ride | John Ennis | Adam Beschizza | 20-1 |
| 9 | Mugatu | Jeff Engler | Joe Talamo | 30-1 |
| 10 | Sierra Leone | Chad Brown | Tyler Gaffalione | 2-1 |
| 11 | Encino | Brad Cox | Flavien Prat | 12-1 |
Keeneland
Gorgeous Keeneland is settled into sprawling fields bordered by beautiful trees. The foliage is awesome whether it is spring or fall, and the lush Kentucky bluegrass is a worthy namesake of this important Derby prep. The track opened in 1936, and is known for both its top-class racing and its horse auctions, which bring in millions of dollars a year and draw the best pedigrees in the stud book.
Blue Grass Stakes Prep Results
The Blue Grass Stakes is unusual in that it is made up of horses that often have not been wintering in Kentucky, and there are no official local prep races for it. There are other Kentucky Derby prep races in Kentucky, but those are the Tapeta-track races at Turfway, whereas the Blue Grass is run on conventional dirt. Often horses from California, New York, Arkansas, and Florida gather at Keeneland to try their luck in the race.
Blue Grass Stakes Contenders
Among the 11 entrants for the 2024 Blue Grass Stakes, these are the leading contenders:
Dornoch: A full brother to 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage, he did something his superstar brother never did: he raced at age two. He was one of the best juveniles of last year, graduating impressively at Keeneland before winning the Remsen (G2). He won the Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream with authority in his sophomore debut, and now returns to the site of his maiden win. The toughest part is that he is speed in a race with a lot of it, but he could easily be the speed of the speed, and if speed is holding, he could set the pace and dig in like he did when beating Sierra Leone in the Remsen.
Encino: He looks like the long shot special for Brad Cox and Flavien Prat. He has yet to try the dirt, but with several well-known Kentucky Derby contenders, he will certainly be the price to take a shot. And, with excellent dirt route breeding and proven pace versatility, it would be no surprise to see him continue his upward trajectory and play spoiler at a big price.
Good Money: A relatively inexperienced runner for Chad Brown, he graduated on debut and then finished fourth in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3). However, he was beaten less than a length for the whole thing in that race, his route debut. Brown shines with second-time route horses, and Good Money has the breeding to stretch out to nine furlongs and perhaps even longer. Demand a price, but he has plenty of upside.
Just a Touch: This Brad Cox trainee lacks experience, with only two starts behind him. He also has yet to race on a fast track—he won on sloppy Fair Grounds going, and then finished second in a sloppy one-turn mile at Aqueduct. However, both of those races came back fast. His pedigree is all dirt and all distance, meaning this extra ground should only help him replicate or even move forward from his form in this spot.
Seize the Grey: The only horse coming out of another 100-point prep, the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at Turfway, he is an experienced and consistent type. Though that last race was on Tapeta, he won on the dirt two back at Oaklawn. He did that in fast enough fashion to fit in this set, and he showed enough tactical speed to work a trip. The biggest question is Keeneland. He was well beaten in his only start last year over this course, though the disappointment may have been more of a question of the race coming at the end of his campaign.
Sierra Leone: In three starts, the only blemish on his record is a nose loss in the Remsen – and he rematches with Dornoch, the horse who outgamed him that day, in this race. He made his sophomore debut in the Risen Star, an impressive effort given that he closed into a sluggish pace to win anyway. The short stretch at Keeneland is a concern, but jockey Tyler Gaffalione knows Keeneland well. If he is able to time a move correctly into a pace that will certainly be faster, he shapes as a leading contender.
Blue Grass Stakes Winners Past Performances
The Blue Grass Stakes is one of Kentucky’s oldest and most prestigious stakes races. It has been won by some special horses over the years; in 1996, Skip Away charged to victory, and later he became the richest horse of all time. Holy Bull, Summer Squall, and Chief’s Crown won it, as did the likes of Spectacular Bid, Alydar, and Riva Ridge. Northern Dancer is perhaps the best of them, having won in 1964 and then going on to win the Derby, the Queen’s Plate, and becoming the best sire of all time.
Recently, the Blue Grass was won by Good Magic (2018), who was the previous year’s Champion Two Year Old. In 2020, Art Collector outlasted Swiss Skydiver, a filly, who went on to win the Preakness Stakes over Authentic. In 2021, Essential Quality parlayed a Blue Grass victory into glory in the Belmont and the Travers, and captured Champion Three Year Old honors. Winners like these helped the race regain Grade 1 status as of 2022.
Post Time for the Blue Grass Stakes
The 2024 Blue Grass Stakes will be run April 6, as the tenth race on Keeneland’s 11-race card. The race is one of three Kentucky Derby preps that day, including the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct and Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita. It offers the winner 100 points towards the Derby, while the next four horses across the wire earn 50, 25, 15, and 10 points, respectively. The winner punches their ticket to the Kentucky Derby, the second-place horse is likely to earn a spot, and even the next three across the wire can make it if they have run well in another prep or two.
Blue Grass Stakes Undercard
The first three days of the Keeneland spring meeting are packed with stakes action, including the $600,000 Ashland (G1), a 100-point Kentucky Oaks prep, anchoring the opening day card on Friday, April 7.
On Blue Grass Day itself, there are four other graded stakes races: the $600,000 Madison (G1) for older filly and mare sprinters, the $400,000 Appalachian (G2) for sophomore filly turf milers, the $350,000 Shakertown (G2) for older turf sprinters, and the $300,000 Commonwealth (G3) for older dirt sprinters.
About Keeneland
Lexington, Kentucky is the home of one of the most important venues in worldwide horse racing—Keeneland. The complex is home to both the Keeneland Racecourse and its sales facility from which top-class horses are purchased not just by US-based owners and trainers but from those as far afield as England, Ireland, France, and Dubai.
Keeneland’s standing was highlighted again in 2009 when the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced its rating system which placed it right at the top at number one. Nestled in the heart of Kentucky horse country, it is also a designated National Historic Landmark.
Keeneland History
Keeneland was established in 1936 as a nonprofit organization to replace the Kentucky Association track that had closed three years before. Though it has been a for-profit entity since the 1950s, it has continued to be a premier place for both racing and selling Thoroughbred horses in the Kentucky bluegrass.
The racecourse itself has conducted the April and October meets since this time and has not broken with tradition. Its spring meet remains one of the richest in North America to this day.
Though the track remains true to its traditional roots, it does so in a way that keeps pace with the times. The track built a new trackside winners’ circle and created the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes in 1984, to honor a visit from the Queen herself. The next year, Keeneland installed a turf course; the QEII Challenge Cup and many other top races are run over that course to this day. Keeneland even experimented with a synthetic surface, converting its main track to Polytrack from 2006 through the spring of 2014. Since the fall of 2014, the main track at Keeneland has been conventional dirt.
In 2015, Keeneland hosted its first Breeders’ Cup. The Classic that year was won by American Pharoah, who became the first horse ever to win both the Triple Crown and the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). They hosted two more successful Breeders’ Cup events in 2020 and 2023.
Keeneland Track Details
The main track is just over a mile long, made up of dirt. It surrounds a 7½ furlong turf course to its inside. The turf course uses more than one layout with the Keeneland Course having a temporary rail 15 feet out and the Haggin Course having no temporary rail.
Blue Grass Stakes FAQ
Q: When is the 2024 Blue Grass Stakes?
A: It will be run on Saturday, April 6, with a post time of 5:52 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Q: Where is the Blue Grass Stakes?
A: It takes place at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, across Versailles Road from the Lexington airport.
Q: Which trainer has the most wins in the Blue Grass Stakes?
A: Todd Pletcher has won the Blue Grass four times, more than any trainer. He took the record for himself when Tapit Trice won in 2023.
Q: Who is the favorite for the Blue Grass Stakes?
A: Off his victory in the Risen Star, Sierra Leone is the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the Blue Grass. However, it would be no surprise to see 3-1 morning-line second choice Dornoch challenge for or even wrest favoritism, since Dornoch is the only horse to have beaten Sierra Leone so far.
Q: Who is the best Blue Grass Stakes jockey?
A: The late, great Bill Shoemaker won this race six times. Among riders entered in the 2024 edition, Luis Saez leads with three victories, most recently in 2023. Saez can extend that tally if he guides Dornoch to victory.
Q: Who won the Blue Grass Stakes in 2021?
A: Tapit Trice won the 2023 Blue Grass for trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Luis Saez. Saez returns to the fray in 2023 with Danny Gargan trainee Dornoch, the morning-line second choice. Pletcher has Be You, with Irad Ortiz, Jr. in the irons.
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By TVG Staff
Updated April 2, 2024
The boutique spring season at Keeneland is one of the highlights of the racing year, with many graded stakes packed into a three-week meeting. Keeneland is a beautiful venue, and some of the best three-year-old Thoroughbred horses will gather for the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) on April 6, 2024. Covering nine furlongs on dirt, the Grade 1, $1 million race is one of the most important of the Kentucky Derby prep season. It typically produces multiple Kentucky Derby starters, given the 100-50-25-15-10 points available to the top five finishers in the eleven-horse field.
Precisely 19 horses have turned a run in the Blue Grass Stakes into victory in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, including 10 runners who won both races: Shut Out (1942), Tomy Lee (1959), Chateaugay (1963), Northern Dancer (1964), Lucky Debonair (1965), Forward Pass (1968), Dust Commander (1970), Riva Ridge (1972), Spectacular Bid (1979), and Strike the Gold (1991).
Street Sense was the most recent to prep in the Blue Grass, winning the Derby in 2007. However, even more recently, money finishers in the Derby have come out of the Blue Grass. This includes third-place Derby finisher Zandon, who won the 2022 Blue Grass, as well as 2021 winner Essential Quality, who won the Blue Grass as well.
Blue Grass Stakes Odds
The 2024 Blue Grass drew a field of 11 sophomores, an intriguing mix of proven stakes horses and new faces trying to make it into the field just in time. These are the runners in post-position order, including their trainers, jockeys, and morning-line odds.
| Post | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Top Conor | Chad Brown | Jose Ortiz | 15-1 |
| 2 | Be You | Todd Pletcher | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | 8-1 |
| 3 | Seize the Grey | D. Wayne Lukas | Nik Juarez | 20-1 |
| 4 | Dornoch | Danny Gargan | Luis Saez | 3-1 |
| 5 | Good Money | Chad Brown | Javier Castellano | 20-1 |
| 6 | Just a Touch | Brad Cox | Florent Geroux | 7-2 |
| 7 | Lat Long | Kenny McPeek | Brian Hernandez, Jr. | 30-1 |
| 8 | Epic Ride | John Ennis | Adam Beschizza | 20-1 |
| 9 | Mugatu | Jeff Engler | Joe Talamo | 30-1 |
| 10 | Sierra Leone | Chad Brown | Tyler Gaffalione | 2-1 |
| 11 | Encino | Brad Cox | Flavien Prat | 12-1 |
Keeneland
Gorgeous Keeneland is settled into sprawling fields bordered by beautiful trees. The foliage is awesome whether it is spring or fall, and the lush Kentucky bluegrass is a worthy namesake of this important Derby prep. The track opened in 1936, and is known for both its top-class racing and its horse auctions, which bring in millions of dollars a year and draw the best pedigrees in the stud book.
Blue Grass Stakes Prep Results
The Blue Grass Stakes is unusual in that it is made up of horses that often have not been wintering in Kentucky, and there are no official local prep races for it. There are other Kentucky Derby prep races in Kentucky, but those are the Tapeta-track races at Turfway, whereas the Blue Grass is run on conventional dirt. Often horses from California, New York, Arkansas, and Florida gather at Keeneland to try their luck in the race.
Blue Grass Stakes Contenders
Among the 11 entrants for the 2024 Blue Grass Stakes, these are the leading contenders:
Dornoch: A full brother to 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage, he did something his superstar brother never did: he raced at age two. He was one of the best juveniles of last year, graduating impressively at Keeneland before winning the Remsen (G2). He won the Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream with authority in his sophomore debut, and now returns to the site of his maiden win. The toughest part is that he is speed in a race with a lot of it, but he could easily be the speed of the speed, and if speed is holding, he could set the pace and dig in like he did when beating Sierra Leone in the Remsen.
Encino: He looks like the long shot special for Brad Cox and Flavien Prat. He has yet to try the dirt, but with several well-known Kentucky Derby contenders, he will certainly be the price to take a shot. And, with excellent dirt route breeding and proven pace versatility, it would be no surprise to see him continue his upward trajectory and play spoiler at a big price.
Good Money: A relatively inexperienced runner for Chad Brown, he graduated on debut and then finished fourth in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3). However, he was beaten less than a length for the whole thing in that race, his route debut. Brown shines with second-time route horses, and Good Money has the breeding to stretch out to nine furlongs and perhaps even longer. Demand a price, but he has plenty of upside.
Just a Touch: This Brad Cox trainee lacks experience, with only two starts behind him. He also has yet to race on a fast track—he won on sloppy Fair Grounds going, and then finished second in a sloppy one-turn mile at Aqueduct. However, both of those races came back fast. His pedigree is all dirt and all distance, meaning this extra ground should only help him replicate or even move forward from his form in this spot.
Seize the Grey: The only horse coming out of another 100-point prep, the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at Turfway, he is an experienced and consistent type. Though that last race was on Tapeta, he won on the dirt two back at Oaklawn. He did that in fast enough fashion to fit in this set, and he showed enough tactical speed to work a trip. The biggest question is Keeneland. He was well beaten in his only start last year over this course, though the disappointment may have been more of a question of the race coming at the end of his campaign.
Sierra Leone: In three starts, the only blemish on his record is a nose loss in the Remsen – and he rematches with Dornoch, the horse who outgamed him that day, in this race. He made his sophomore debut in the Risen Star, an impressive effort given that he closed into a sluggish pace to win anyway. The short stretch at Keeneland is a concern, but jockey Tyler Gaffalione knows Keeneland well. If he is able to time a move correctly into a pace that will certainly be faster, he shapes as a leading contender.
Blue Grass Stakes Winners Past Performances
The Blue Grass Stakes is one of Kentucky’s oldest and most prestigious stakes races. It has been won by some special horses over the years; in 1996, Skip Away charged to victory, and later he became the richest horse of all time. Holy Bull, Summer Squall, and Chief’s Crown won it, as did the likes of Spectacular Bid, Alydar, and Riva Ridge. Northern Dancer is perhaps the best of them, having won in 1964 and then going on to win the Derby, the Queen’s Plate, and becoming the best sire of all time.
Recently, the Blue Grass was won by Good Magic (2018), who was the previous year’s Champion Two Year Old. In 2020, Art Collector outlasted Swiss Skydiver, a filly, who went on to win the Preakness Stakes over Authentic. In 2021, Essential Quality parlayed a Blue Grass victory into glory in the Belmont and the Travers, and captured Champion Three Year Old honors. Winners like these helped the race regain Grade 1 status as of 2022.
Post Time for the Blue Grass Stakes
The 2024 Blue Grass Stakes will be run April 6, as the tenth race on Keeneland’s 11-race card. The race is one of three Kentucky Derby preps that day, including the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct and Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita. It offers the winner 100 points towards the Derby, while the next four horses across the wire earn 50, 25, 15, and 10 points, respectively. The winner punches their ticket to the Kentucky Derby, the second-place horse is likely to earn a spot, and even the next three across the wire can make it if they have run well in another prep or two.
Blue Grass Stakes Undercard
The first three days of the Keeneland spring meeting are packed with stakes action, including the $600,000 Ashland (G1), a 100-point Kentucky Oaks prep, anchoring the opening day card on Friday, April 7.
On Blue Grass Day itself, there are four other graded stakes races: the $600,000 Madison (G1) for older filly and mare sprinters, the $400,000 Appalachian (G2) for sophomore filly turf milers, the $350,000 Shakertown (G2) for older turf sprinters, and the $300,000 Commonwealth (G3) for older dirt sprinters.
About Keeneland
Lexington, Kentucky is the home of one of the most important venues in worldwide horse racing—Keeneland. The complex is home to both the Keeneland Racecourse and its sales facility from which top-class horses are purchased not just by US-based owners and trainers but from those as far afield as England, Ireland, France, and Dubai.
Keeneland’s standing was highlighted again in 2009 when the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced its rating system which placed it right at the top at number one. Nestled in the heart of Kentucky horse country, it is also a designated National Historic Landmark.
Keeneland History
Keeneland was established in 1936 as a nonprofit organization to replace the Kentucky Association track that had closed three years before. Though it has been a for-profit entity since the 1950s, it has continued to be a premier place for both racing and selling Thoroughbred horses in the Kentucky bluegrass.
The racecourse itself has conducted the April and October meets since this time and has not broken with tradition. Its spring meet remains one of the richest in North America to this day.
Though the track remains true to its traditional roots, it does so in a way that keeps pace with the times. The track built a new trackside winners’ circle and created the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes in 1984, to honor a visit from the Queen herself. The next year, Keeneland installed a turf course; the QEII Challenge Cup and many other top races are run over that course to this day. Keeneland even experimented with a synthetic surface, converting its main track to Polytrack from 2006 through the spring of 2014. Since the fall of 2014, the main track at Keeneland has been conventional dirt.
In 2015, Keeneland hosted its first Breeders’ Cup. The Classic that year was won by American Pharoah, who became the first horse ever to win both the Triple Crown and the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). They hosted two more successful Breeders’ Cup events in 2020 and 2023.
Keeneland Track Details
The main track is just over a mile long, made up of dirt. It surrounds a 7½ furlong turf course to its inside. The turf course uses more than one layout with the Keeneland Course having a temporary rail 15 feet out and the Haggin Course having no temporary rail.
Blue Grass Stakes FAQ
Q: When is the 2024 Blue Grass Stakes?
A: It will be run on Saturday, April 6, with a post time of 5:52 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Q: Where is the Blue Grass Stakes?
A: It takes place at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, across Versailles Road from the Lexington airport.
Q: Which trainer has the most wins in the Blue Grass Stakes?
A: Todd Pletcher has won the Blue Grass four times, more than any trainer. He took the record for himself when Tapit Trice won in 2023.
Q: Who is the favorite for the Blue Grass Stakes?
A: Off his victory in the Risen Star, Sierra Leone is the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the Blue Grass. However, it would be no surprise to see 3-1 morning-line second choice Dornoch challenge for or even wrest favoritism, since Dornoch is the only horse to have beaten Sierra Leone so far.
Q: Who is the best Blue Grass Stakes jockey?
A: The late, great Bill Shoemaker won this race six times. Among riders entered in the 2024 edition, Luis Saez leads with three victories, most recently in 2023. Saez can extend that tally if he guides Dornoch to victory.
Q: Who won the Blue Grass Stakes in 2021?
A: Tapit Trice won the 2023 Blue Grass for trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Luis Saez. Saez returns to the fray in 2023 with Danny Gargan trainee Dornoch, the morning-line second choice. Pletcher has Be You, with Irad Ortiz, Jr. in the irons.