Friday, April 24, 2026
Race 8 at Keeneland
Post Time 4:44 p.m. Eastern Time
Bewitch Stakes – Grade 3

Contender(s) in preference order with minimum odds for considering win bets:
#8 Literate – at odds 9 to 5 or higher
#2 Virgin Colada – at odds 3 to 1 or higher
#1 Way to Be Marie – at odds 3 to 1 or higher

Literate raced 22 times, but only five of her recent races count, which is when she changed to trainer Brad Cox. Her first try for Cox, last November, was on conventional dirt, so that race doesn’t count. She then finished third in her first all-weather race last December. She went on to win two stakes, the Likely Exchange in January and the Wintergreen Stakes in February, where she powered from 10 lengths back to win by 10 lengths. In her last race, she finished fourth in the Latonia Stakes one month ago. This is the first turf race since Cox trained her, and there is a good reason she should run well on this surface, as Cox won the Bewitch in 2024 when Chop Chop ran in the Latonia. She gets jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., the leading rider at the Keeneland meeting, and he and Cox have won 16 of 45 (37%) turf races over the last five years.

Virgin Colada changed to trainer Mike Maker in November. Her first race after that was a sixth-place finish, but after a two-month layoff, she won on the all-weather on January 10, rallying from seventh. In her most recent race, she finished second at one and one-fourth miles, where she had to steady, but was moved up to first when the winner was disqualified. Maker has won many marathons (11 furlongs to 12 furlongs) like this one, and top jockey Flavien Prat rides. Prat and Maker have won 11 of 38 (29%) turf route races. She also has a shot.

Way to Be Marie also had a change of trainers, with Eddie Kenneally taking over from the previous trainer. She won her first race, on turf, for Kenneally on March 21, with jockey Luis Saez riding for the first time. He rode her again. Saez and Kenneally have won 14 of 68 (21%) races over the past years. She had been off for nearly five months and ran second last fall in the similar Ladies Marathon Stakes. She has finished first or second in eight of 15 turf races, and she has at least a shot at second.

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