From 2021-23, the Bewitch Stakes in April at Keeneland was War Like Goddess’s personal playground. Her 2021 win, a blowout, stamped the filly as special. The next two years, War Like Goddess used the Bewitch as a springboard to campaigns culminating in Breeders’ Cup starts. None of the nine entrants in this year’s Bewitch rate anywhere near War Like Goddess’s level, though Friday’s 1 1/2-mile turf fixture for older fillies and mares at least drew a competitive cast. The morning line lists Forever After All the 9-5 favorite, a reasonable if unappealing price on a 6-year-old mare with three wins and 10 second-place finishes from 23 starts. To be fair, Forever After All’s first 10 starts came on dirt before Brendan Walsh took over her training and switched the mare to turf racing. Nonetheless, Forever After All has gone 0 for 3 as a turf favorite, and while she was a tepid 5-2 shot finishing fifth March 1 in The Very One Stakes at Gulfstream Park, she took two defeats late last year as the short-priced chalk. On the positive side, her victory this past winter at Gulfstream came in the La Prevoyante Stakes, just her second start over 1 1/2 miles. Her first came in the Dowager last October at Keeneland, where she lost by a nose to Chop Chop, last year’s Bewitch winner. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “If she can reproduce that race, she should be competitive,” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “In her last start she was beat the first time they went past the stands. The pace was muddling and she was too far back. That’s Gulfstream. Keeneland will suit her better.” The Bill Mott-trained French import Immensitude is listed as the 5-2 second choice, another price lower than fair. Immensitude’s solid Group 3 form racing in France during 2023 includes a decent third behind Excellent Truth, a troubled second two weekends ago in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley, but Immensitude finished a tepid third last April at Keeneland in her first race for Mott and has failed to win any of her seven North American starts. A move from middle to long distances last fall squeezed some measure of improvement from the mare, and Immensitude, in The Very One, finished three places and three-quarters of a length in front of Forever After All, though she got a better trip tracking a slow pace than did late-running Forever After All. The Christophe Clement-trained Eternal Silence, a high class 2-year-old in Ireland during 2022, made her North American debut two falls ago at Keeneland and has raced only twice since. Her March 8 return following an eight-month layoff came in a tough spot, the Grade 2 Hillsborough at Tampa Bay Downs, and with an unusual trip. Racing sixth onto the backstretch of that 1 1/8-mile contest, inside and with cover, Eternal Silence refused to settle, and rather than continuing to fight his mount, Joel Rosario took her outside and let Eternal Silence run to the lead with five furlongs remaining. Once in front the mare relaxed, but the pulling, the middle move and the layoff caught up to her in the final furlong, Eternal Silence fading to fourth. Perhaps at this longer trip Eternal Silence will go to the lead at the start, rather than in the middle, but she’s yet to race beyond 1 1/8 miles and is uncertain to stay this trip. Clement’s second runner, 4-year-old Youknownothing, has through an eight-start campaign not been fast enough to factor. Four-year-old Just Basking holds greater appeal. Just Basking’s maiden win came last year over 1 1/4 miles, as did her best race at age 3, a rallying third in the Grade 1 Alabama. Trainer Ian Wilkes brought Just Basking back March 18 from a seven-month layoff in a second-level Fair Grounds turf allowance. Last of nine behind a slow pace going 1 1/16 miles, Just Basking checked in seventh but finished with interest and did her best work at and past the wire, zooming to the front on the gallop-out. “I do believe she’s a grass horse the way she trained on grass in Florida this winter,” Wilkes said. “It was unfortunate [last out] she didn’t break as sharp as I thought she would. With the rail out and when they sprint home, you don’t have a shot. Put a line through that.” Done. And Just Basking need not be a second coming of War Like Goddess to upset the Bewitch on closing day at Keeneland. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.