KEENELAND DAILY NOTEBOOK
by Brian P. Turner
Keeneland offered a total of three stakes races for the final Saturday of themeet highlighted by the Lexington S. (G2) for three-year-olds going 1 1/16 milesover the Polytrack. A few among this field were making one last ditch effort toget the graded stakes earnings needed to move on to Churchill Downs for thefirst Saturday in May.
Tomicito (Street Cry [Ire]) was one of these hopefuls and was sent to thegate as the favorite by the betting public who expected him to move forward offof his even effort in the Florida Derby (G1) where he finished third, beaten by12 1/2 lengths. In the end though, the bay didn’t really live up to the hype andexpectations from the betting public. After laying off the pace through hotearly fractions of :22 3/5 and :45 1/5, Tomcito lacked the needed punch in thestretch drive and crossed the wire in sixth, beaten by 3 3/4 lengths.
BEHINDATTHEBAR (Forest Wildcat) did have the needed late punch. Content to lie next to last early before making his move on the second turn,he finished with a solid turn of foot to claim the victory by a length. Thebay has run well in four of his five career starts with his only disappointingeffort coming on the dirt in the El Camino Real Derby (G3) where he finishedfifth, beaten by 4 1/2 lengths. The colt rebounded with an impressive four-length victory against allowance/optional company at Santa Anita that served as aprecursor for today’s solid performance.
Afterward, trainer Todd Pletcher said the colt was unlikely to compete in theDerby, but Behindatthebar now has the graded stakes earnings needed should his connectionsdecide to go for it.
Longshot Samba Rooster (Songandaprayer), who was making his first start fortrainer Bob Baffert, attempted to lead the field from gate to wire and held ongamely in the end to cross the wire in second, a half-length clear of RileyTucker (Harlan’s Holiday) in third.

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