As the Keeneland fall meet moves deep into its second half, the focus will be on the turf course for several races on Thursday – and, with opportunities to race on the turf in Kentucky in 2023 dwindling, those races are popular. The nominal feature on Thursday’s nine-race card is a $110,000 allowance going 1 1/16 miles on the turf, for 3-year-olds and up who have never won a race other-than, or who have never won two races. It has drawn an overflow 16 entries, with 12 horses permitted to start. One of the horses in the main body of the field is Mackillop, who has shown improved efforts off a long layoff and a barn switch. He won once from four starts in 2022 for Chad Brown, gelded midway through that campaign. :: Bet Keeneland with confidence! Get DRF PPs, Picks and more. Off for nearly 10 months, Mackillop reappeared in the entries at Saratoga this summer for Ian Wilkes, and finished a decent fourth behind two next-out winners in a turf sprint. Going a mile at Churchill Downs in September, Mackillop finished second by seven lengths to multiple stakes-placed Ocean Pointe. The gelding should be rounding into good form in his third start off the break, and again going a distance he’ll prefer. His biggest challenge will be sorting out a good pace-stalking trip, as he got last time out, from the rail in this large field under Julien Leparoux. Endpoint, who is also rounding back into form off a break, should be making that pace from post 5 under Gerardo Corrales. The colt has flashed some promise last year, but won his maiden in his first start on turf, and first outing off a six-month layoff, in July at Ellis Park. In his first try against winners, again at Ellis, the race was taken off the turf, and he was caught by a neck late to finish second. He’s had a briefer freshening of two months, and will be dangerous if he performs well off the bench again. Tiverton is intriguing at a price as he makes his second start in the U.S. for Conor Murphy. A winner once from six starts in Ireland, the gelding made his U.S. debut off a four-month break, finishing a one-paced eighth in the Jefferson Cup in September at Churchill Downs. Not only does he drop in class here, he adds blinkers to sharpen up, and picks up Flavien Prat in the irons. Maiden turf sprints Also on the Keeneland turf on Thursday, two divisions of a $100,000 maiden special weight sprinting on the grass for 2-year-old fillies have drawn overflow fields. In the fifth race on the card, the well-bred Into Stars, with Prat in the irons for Brad Cox, is among the leading candidates. Second on debut in a race taken off the turf at Saratoga, she was then third in her turf debut at Aqueduct. Into Stars, by versatile leading sire Into Mischief, is out of Star Billing, winner of the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes on the turf. Beautiful Mischief is also by Into Mischief, whose turf runners this year include Grade 1 winners Atone and Gina Romantica. Her dam was stakes-placed on the turf. Beautiful Mischief debuted on the Churchill dirt for Eddie Kenneally, and improved her position late after being bumped at the start. She picks up the hot-riding Luis Saez. Two Sip Sally was second on debut on the Kentucky Downs turf with a Beyer Speed Figure of 71, the best number in this race. In the second division of this maiden, the ninth race, Irish-born Wonder Wave looks to break through for Brian Lynch after two good outings on the Ellis Park turf. The filly was third on debut to two next-out winners – with victorious She Feels Pretty coming back to win the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes at Woodbine – then improving to second in her following outing. Wonder Wave is from the second crop of the War Front horse U S Navy Flag, a Group 1-winning juvenile. She is a half-sister to Irish Group 3-winning juvenile Castle Star. The debuting Cloudwalker, coming off a strong work on the Turfway Tapeta for Brendan Walsh, is by More Than Ready, a strong sire with both 2-year-olds and turf runners. Her dam is a half-sister to several turf stakes performers. Fellow debut starter Copperdrop, for Steve Asmussen, is from the first crop of Copper Bullet, a graded-winning juvenile on dirt. However, Copper Bullet is by More Than Ready, and is the sire of a stakes-placed turf filly this season. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.