Grand Sonata, Coinage Headline Field of Six for Opening-Day Kentucky Utilities Transylvania

Whisper Hill Farm’s Grand Sonata, a winner of two grass stakes this winter at Gulfstream Park, and D. J. Stable and Chester and Mary Broman’s Coinage, winner of the Palm Beach (L) in his most recent start, top a field of six 3-year-olds entered Tuesday for Friday’s 34^th running of the $400,000 Kentucky Utilities Transylvania (G3) going 1 1/16 miles on the grass. 

The Kentucky Utilities Transylvania will go as the afternoon’s eighth race on the 10-race program with a 4:44 p.m. ET post time. First post is 1 p.m. 

Trained by Todd Pletcher, who won the Transylvania in 2013 with Jack Milton, Grand Sonata won the Dania Beach (L) and Kitten’s Joy (G3) in his two starts of 2022. Tyler Gaffalione, who was aboard for both wins, has the mount Friday and will break from post four. 

Coinage, trained by Mark Casse, has compiled a 5-2-0-2 record on grass with his lone off-the-board finish coming in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) at Del Mar to close his 2021 campaign. Luis Saez has the mount Friday and will break from post five. 

Two-time race winner Chad Brown will send out undefeated Verbal for Juddmonte. Winner of the Cecil B. DeMille (G3) at Del Mar to close 2021, Verbal will be ridden by regular rider Jose Ortiz and break from post six. 

The field for the Kentucky Utilities Transylvania with riders and weights, from the inside, is: Credibility (Florent Geroux, 118 pounds), Napoleonic War (Flavien Prat, 118), Sy Dog (Irad Ortiz Jr., 118), Grand Sonata (Gaffalione, 118), Coinage (Saez, 118) and Verbal (Jose Ortiz, 118).