Keertana takes Louisville in nose bob

Keertana (hedge) won the Louisville in a nose bob over Guys Reward (center) and Bearpath (outside) (Reed Palmer Photography/Churchill Downs) Barbara Hunter’s homebred KEERTANA (Johar) just got her nose down in a three-way photo finish on the wire to take the $111,200 Louisville H. (G3) at Churchill Downs Saturday. Jockey Jose Lezcano guided the Tom Proctor trainee through the 1 1/2-marathon test on the firm Matt Winn Turf Course, and the pair stopped the clock in 2:33 3/5 in a bobbing finish. Keertana is now just shy of $1 million in lifetime earnings. The winner’s share boosted her bankroll to $981,938, and she’s now racked up an 11-5-6 mark from 26 career starts. “If she ran third, that would have been OK,” Proctor said. “I was just enjoying watching her fight for it. If you don’t enjoy finishes like that then you’re in trouble in this business. “I ran her in this spot because I didn’t want to ship her. I actually thought it was a conservative move to keep her here and run against the boys. This might be one of the first times I’ve ever run a filly or mare against males, but every time you ship one and then have to bring them back it’s really like making them run two races so I wanted to run her here.”

Free Fighter (Out of Place), who captured this race last year by two lengths
over a returning Bearpath (Dynaformer), gunned straight to the front when the
gates opened but was quickly overtaken by Guys Reward (Grand Reward). That one
proceeded to lead the way through fractions of :25 3/5 and :51 4/5 with Free
Fighter keeping in close attendance and El Crespo (A.P. Indy) chasing in third
to the outside of Keertana.

Free Fighter had already faded before Guys Reward reached the mile in 1:45
4/5, but El Crespo was more than willing to take over pressing duties on the
outside. Meanwhile, Keertana angled in and slipped through to the inside of Guys
Reward on the hedge. El Crespo couldn’t keep pace as the duo battled it out in
the stretch run and bumped Bearpath hard when coming out near the furlong
marker. Bearpath recovered and continued his game late rally, hooking up with
the top two just strides from the wire.

Keertana, Guys Reward and Bearpath hit the line together with heads bobbing
furiously but, in the end, the photo showed the gallant mare had gotten her nose
down first.

“It was a great race,” Lezcano said. “I wanted to take her to the outside
because I thought that would be best for her. The grass was softer on the hedge
and I wanted her to go outside, but I really didn’t have a choice and had to go
up the inside. When we hit the wire, I didn’t know if she won, or finished
second, or finished third. I didn’t know we won until they put it up on the
screen. I’m very happy. She’s a nice mare.”

Keertana would not be denied in the Louisville (Reed Palmer Photography/Churchill Downs) Keertana was sent off the 3-2 favorite in the seven-horse field and returned $5, $3 and $2.80. “I’m just tickled for her,” Proctor said. “She’s a neat mare and I’m just happy to ride on her coattails. Once horses like her leave the barn, you can’t replace them. That’s already her third graded-stakes win of the year. That’s a hell of a year! “She ran a great race and hopefully she’ll come out of it good and we’ll get to have fun again. The Breeders’ Cup (Filly & Mare Turf [G1]) is the long-term goal. But that’s still awhile away from now.” Bearpath managed to get his nose down in front of Guys Reward to take second, and it was 2 1/4 lengths farther back to El Crespo.

“If the horse at the eighth-pole doesn’t come out in front of me and I have
to check, he probably would have done it,” said Freddie Lenclud aboard Bearpath.
“It’s just part of racing. But he ran great today. We know now that he likes to
be off the pace. We tried to see if he would be comfortable being up in the
race, but he doesn’t like that. He just likes to be at the back, and that’s how
he is.”

Last-out
Elkhorn S. (G2) winner Musketier (Ger) (Acatenango) never challenged while
finishing fifth, two lengths in front of Memorial Maniac (Lear Fan). Free
Fighter was a distant last, 25 1/4 lengths behind Memorial Maniac, after Simmard
(Dixieland Band), Dark Cove (Medaglia d’Oro) and Formulaforsuccess (Broken Vow)
were all withdrawn.

Keertana earned her second straight graded win with this one, and is now
5-4-0-1 for the year. She opened her five-year-old season with a dead-heat
allowance score at Tampa Bay Downs and followed with a victory in The Very One
S. (G3) at Gulfstream Park. The dark bay returned to Tampa on March 12 for the
Hillsborough S. (G3), but could only manage third in that 1 1/8-mile event. She
got back on the winning track last out at Keeneland with a 1 1/4-length score in
the Bewitch S. (G3).

As a three-year-old in 2009, the dark bay captured the Regret S. (G3) and
Indiana Downs Distaff S. and placed in the Garden City S. (G1), Mrs. Revere S.
(G2), Lake Placid S. (G2) and Valley View S. (G3). Last season, she placed in
the Mint Julep H. (G3) and De La Rose S. over the summer, but showed an entirely
new dimension when stepped up in trip for the 1 3/8-mile Glens Falls S. (G3),
where she exploded to an impressive 3 1/4-length triumph. She concluded her 2010
campaign with a hard-charging third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf,
beaten all of a half-length.

The Kentucky-bred was produced by the unraced Storm Cat mare Motokiks, making
her a half-sister to last year’s Garden City, Regret and Arlington Oaks (G3)
runner-up Snow Top Mountain (Najran). She has two other younger half-siblings, a
juvenile colt named Moe Moes Rock Ten (Rock Hard Ten) and an unnamed yearling
colt by Afleet Alex.

Motokiks is herself a full sister to Group 2-placed multiple German stakes
victor Catoki and a half-sister to two-time Italian highweight and Group 1 hero
Knifebox (Diesis [GB]) as well as multiple Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed
Parochial (Mehmet). This is the family of multiple Grade 1 heroine Spoken Fur
(Notebook).