How to bet the 2022 Dowager Stakes

Eleven fillies and mares will travel 1 1/2 miles on the Keeneland lawn in Sunday’s $300,000 Dowager S. (G3). The race lacks a standout and could go to any number of horse.

Conditioner Graham Motion will saddle a trio of contenders in the race, including #6 Sister Otoole (8-1) who is my top selection. Bred in the Sunshine State, the mare has not been overly consistent in her career, but she is more than capable of registering big performances on her best day.

A stakes winner at Del Mar in her most recent endeavor, the daughter of Amira’s Prince does her best work on firm surfaces and put in a few sneaky-good races at Gulfstream Park earlier this season while facing fine opposition. The bay, who was runner-up in the Robert G. Dick Memorial S. (G3) at Delaware Park two back, has trained well for a superb layoff barn, and I feel that she will also get first run on the closers after tracking the pace from the start. Luis Saez will be in the silks.

Todd Pletcher’s #7 Beside Yourself (9-2) is the one to catch as a dangerous commodity making her second run at Keeneland. A facile allowance winner on the course in the spring, the three-year-old Uncle Mo filly carried her speed to an allowance score at Saratoga two back, prior to registering a decent fourth-place result in the lucrative Jockey Club Oaks (G3) at Aqueduct.

The Kentucky-bred faces a deep field of elders in this spot, but she will be especially dangerous if allowed to dictate things while all alone up front with Flavien Prat in the silks.

#2 Luck Money (4-1) missed by a half-length in this race last year and is a logical top-three contender once again for Delacour. Lookin At Lucky five-year-old has won or placed in each of her trio of assignments at Keeneland in her career, and while she is winless since 2020, the dark bay could be a key exotics piece under Vincent Cheminaud.

Flower Bowl S. (G2) third #1 Coastana (6-1), Keertana S. queen #5 Temple City Terror (3-1), and #8 Stand Tall (12-1), who is 2-for-2 at Keeneland, also merit inclusion.

Dowager Stakes Wagers

• $8 exacta key box 6 with 2,7 ($32)
• $1 trifecta 6,7 with 2,6,7 with 1,2,5,6,7,8 ($16)