The $150,000 Keeneland Royal Chase, April 20, could not have set up better for William Pape’s Mixed Up and jockey Danielle Hodsdon.
   
Eleven top stakes horses entered the race in Lexington, Ky. Last year’s winner, Kinross Farm’s Sur Le Tete, was nominated but did not enter because he would have carried the lion’s share of the weight at 164 pounds. Sur Le Tete is also suffering from an old injury and may be out for the spring season.

Among the starters were Polaris Stables’ Preemptive Strike (Chip Miller) and EMO Stables’ Racey Dreamer (Matt McCarron). Both horses were returning from several years off, with Preemptive Strike taking the most weight of the day at 152 pounds.

But the bettors were leaning toward the Pennsylvania-bred Mixed Up, who only carried 150 pounds, before post time. The next hot ticket was Ann Stern’s Paradise’s Boss (Xavier Aizpuru), trained by Jack Fisher, who also entered Good Night Shirt (William Dowling). High Hope Stables’ Riddle’s odds changed when it was announced his trainer, “retired” jockey Arch Kingsley Jr. would be in the irons after a four-year hiatus.

Big money winners from the 2006 season, Calvin Hougland’s Chivite (Paddy Young) and Whitewood Stable’s Mauritania (Robert Massey), also lined up for a chance at the generous purse. Linda Klein entered her 13-year-old mare Feeling So Pretty (Robert Walsh) and ended up the long shot of the day at 30-1.

As expected, the front running Preemptive Strike took the bit and ran with it, dragging the rest of the field for the first mile. But he was not jumping well and fell at the eighth fence. Good Night Shirt, who was close behind, was able to jump over the pair, avoiding catastrophe.

At this point Riddle inherited the lead. The horse had a less than stellar go at the Atlanta Steeplechase (Ga.), losing his rider early on and running around the track with the others, so Kingsley decided to run him back at Keeneland under his own thumb. Riddle jumped well with heavy contenders Paradise’s Boss, Good Night Shirt, Mixed Up and Feeling So Pretty, not far off the pace.

As the field entered the turn for home, Hodsdon asked a little more of the 8-year-old son of Carnivalay and moved on her foes. As she approached the last, Mixed Up jumped with Paradise’s Boss but bobbled on landing. Paradise’s Boss seized the advantage, drawing away after the last, but Mixed Up recovered well and dug in, passing Paradise’s Boss and locking out Riddle.

Just a few strides from the wire, Good Night Shirt came out of nowhere on the inside but had to settle for second, a neck behind Mixed Up. Paradise’s Boss was third, and Riddle held off Feeling So Pretty for fourth-placed money. For those who dared, Mixed Up paid $9.00, Good Night Shirt $17.60 and Paradise’s Boss $4.20. A bonus of $9,000 dollars was added to the purse if six horses finished, and seven did.

A Superior Horse
Mixed Up’s trainer Jonathan Sheppard was pleased the way the race set up. “I thought the weights were fair,” Sheppard said.

“He stays when he gets a little break in the weight. When he got a lot of weight at the Meadowlands [N.J.] last fall it just crushed us. He’s a superior little horse. It went right for us but not so much for some other people.”

Sheppard thought the stretch run was the best he has seen in a long while: “You got to give Riddle a lot of credit, and you have to give Jack Fisher a lot of credit—Good Night Shirt ran a tremendous race. Arch is very smart rider, one of the best. He knows how to position them, how to wait. I was concerned because there is so much speed in that race and Danielle was so far back, but tactically it was correct.”

Hodsdon wasn’t concerned about her awkward last fence. “He always pecks at his last fence, it’s his way. He knows it’s the last, and he over jumps it a little. I am expecting it now, and I take a hold at that fence cause I know I am going to have to pick up a stride later.”

Mixed Up showed how much he has matured:  “We had a ton of class in the race, and I planned on sitting fifth or sixth but I ended up sitting farther back,” said Hodsdon. “When he’s in behind horses he will shut off and relax now, and when you pull him out he knows it’s time to run.”

Perfect Opportunities
Kingsley said riding at Keeneland might have looked like a last-minute decision since Jody Petty, who won with the horse at Little Everglades (Fla.), is still recovering from a fall, but it is something he and his wife Wendy have been talking about for several months.

“I think they should give me back my bug since I have been out of it for four years,” Kingsley said laughing. “It’s something I have had rolling around in the back of my mind for a while now. When Jody got hurt last weekend it sort of made the decision for me. I will probably ride a few more this year.”

Kingsley added, “Having other people ride my horses has cost me a few times. This way I can control the situation, and I do gallop my own horses every day so I do know them very well and they trust me. I would not have ridden Riddle if I did not think I had a shot at it, and he ran his heart out.”

Dowling has had a big smile on his face and a lot of phone calls since his big race with Good Night Shirt. “That was the biggest race I have ever been in. I can’t believe how many people have called me since that race to ride their horses. And it’s unbelievable that Good Night [Shirt] did not go down behind Preemptive Strike. My horse just popped over him like an in and out and went on; he’s very clever.”

Racey Dreamer did not fare so well. He was running at the back of the pack when he fell at fence 10. Trainer Doug Fout said the horse broke his shoulder at the take off and had to be euthanized a short time later. The 8-year-old son of the 1992 Belmont (N.Y.) Stakes winner AP Indy had eight wins out of 12 sanctioned starts and a lifetime career of $180,400. McCarron was bruised in the fall but rode the next day at Middleburg Spring Races (Va.).

Sarah L. Greenhalgh