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Keertana flies home in Bewitch
Keertana negotiated 1 1/2 miles on the rain-softened ground in 2:33, paying $6.40, $3.60 and $3. My Baby Baby crossed the wire one length ahead of Honimiere. A one-paced La Luna de Miel took fourth, followed by Endless Expanse, Silver La Belle and an eased Super Espresso. Silk Route (Empire Maker) and Zapparition (Ghostzapper) were withdrawn along with Persuading. "She probably just likes to have the three turns," winning trainer Tom Proctor said of Keertana. "She's run some pretty powerful races when we run her there." Proctor also commented on the pleasure of leading in a winner for owner/breeder Barbara Hunter. "It's perfect -- I've known her since I was a little kid," the horseman said. "Every time Mrs. Hunter wins a race, people remember Stanley Rieser (longtime trainer for Hunter). They come up and say it. He was a longtime friend of my father's (trainer Willard Proctor)." Keertana is edging closer to millionaire status with $914,371 in earnings from her 25-10-5-6 record, and she has now won or placed in 13 stakes. As a three-year-old in 2009, the dark bay captured the Regret S. (G3) and Indiana Downs Distaff S. and placed in the Garden City S. (G1), Mrs. Revere S. (G2), Lake Placid S. (G2) and Valley View S. (G3). Last season, Keertana placed in the Mint Julep H. (G3) and De La Rose S. over the summer, but showed an entirely new dimension when stepped up in trip for the 1 3/8-mile Glens Falls H. (G3), where she exploded to an impressive 3 1/4-length triumph. She concluded her 2010 campaign with a hard-charging third in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1), beaten all of a half-length. The five-year-old opened 2011 with two straight scores, a dead-heat allowance victory at Tampa Bay Downs on January 23 and a half-length decision in the February 20 The Very One S. (G3) over 1 3/8 miles at Gulfstream Park. Keertana cut back in trip to about 1 1/8 miles for the March 12 Hillsborough S. (G3) at Tampa, rallying from last to finish third. The Kentucky-bred was produced by the unraced Storm Cat mare Motokiks, making her a half-sister to last year's Garden City, Regret and Arlington Oaks (G3) runner-up Snow Top Mountain (Najran). She has two other younger half-siblings, a juvenile colt named Moe Moes Rock Ten (Rock Hard Ten) and an unnamed yearling colt by Afleet Alex. Motokiks is herself a full sister to multiple German stakes victor Catoki and a half-sister to two-time Italian highweight and Group 1 hero Knifebox (Diesis [GB]) as well as multiple Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Parochial (Mehmet). This is the family of multiple Grade 1 heroine Spoken Fur (Notebook). When asked if Keertana would once again aim for the Breeders' Cup, Proctor was circumspect. "One race at a time," Proctor said. "I don't think you can look too far ahead with these horses. She's doing good; I think she's as good this year as any year. So it's nice to see."
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