Keeneland closes spring meet with Bewitch Stakes rematch of graded winners

Keeneland’s spring meet will end with a race that asks more questions than most graded stakes do. The $350,000 Bewitch Stakes, a 1 1/2-mile turf test that drew nine fillies and mares, will go as the eighth race on the April 24 card, with a 4:44 p.m. EDT post time, and it will serve as the meet’s final graded feature.

The rematch between Just Basking and Speed Shopper gives the Bewitch its sharpest shape. They met in the March 28 Orchid Stakes at Gulfstream, where Sultana won in 2:24.47, Speed Shopper finished third by a half-length, and Just Basking was fourth by a half-length. That narrow separation matters at a mile and a half, where riders must settle early, avoid wasting ground and decide exactly when to ask for stamina. A Bewitch win will say plenty about who has the better late-season staying power in the older female turf division.

Speed Shopper brings the clearest pace scenario into the race. The 5-year-old daughter of Quality Road won the Christophe Clement Stakes on Jan. 24 and will make her first Keeneland turf start for trainer Will Walden, with John Velazquez named from post 9. Her front-running style could be a major weapon if she clears the field and slows things down, because this distance can turn into a grind when the leader gets away with comfortable fractions.

Just Basking, trained by Ian Wilkes and owned by Andrew Schwarz and Wendy Schwarz Gilder, has already proved she belongs in this class by taking the Very One Stakes in February. Her Orchid run suggested she was not far off Speed Shopper, and a more assertive trip this time could put her in position to reverse the form. With the race stretched to 12 furlongs, the difference between a stalking trip and a chasing trip could decide everything.

The rest of the field adds legitimate depth and a few angles that matter. Mrs. Astor, a three-time graded stakes winner, was the favorite when third in the Santa Ana Stakes on March 15 and will have Jose Ortiz aboard from post 6. Venencia, who won Keeneland’s Dowager Stakes last fall, will break from post 3 and try to become the first horse since Market Booster in 1994-1995 to sweep the Dowager and Bewitch in back-to-back seasons. The Bewitch has been part of Keeneland since 1962, and recent runnings show its stature: War Like Goddess won three straight from 2021-2023, and Forever After All won by nine lengths in 2025. A win here would place its latest heroine squarely at the top of the division heading into the rest of the season.