Unplaced horses listed in order of finish:Also ran: Monster, Red Lad, Lily's Army, Coach Rudy, Red Speedo, Chatterfield, Tiempos Buenos, Flaming Star and El Halcon
A surprise early leader, Colloquial staved off sustained pace pressure from Smoken Wicked, edging clear in upper stretch and posting a 2 1/4-length victory in the $400,000 Lafayette, a seven-furlong dirt race for 3-year-olds on Monday at Keeneland.
The Hutcheson Stakes winner, the Swale Stakes winner, and the fourth-place finisher from the Grade 1 Hopeful race Monday at Keeneland in the Lafayette Stakes, yet the Lafayette spotlight shines on Colloquial, who has atop his résumé a second-start Aqueduct maiden victory.
Manny Franco started breezing the 3-year-old turf horse Test Score last summer at Saratoga, before the colt ever raced. Monday at Keeneland, Franco piloted Test Score to his first stakes win, a 1 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3, $400,000 Transylvania Stakes.
Although Keeneland will open for racing Sunday, there is no certainty that the $300,000 Palisades, now scheduled to be the first turf stakes of the meet, will remain on the grass.
Unplaced horses listed in order of finish:Also ran: Reagan's Wit, Chasing Liberty, Hammerhead, Versus, Clock Tower, Tom's Magic, Mi Bago, Golden Afternoon and Barricade
La Cara won the first points race toward qualifying for the 2025 Kentucky Oaks, taking the Grade 3 Pocahontas Stakes last September at Churchill Downs. She nearly bookended the prep season by winning the final points race toward the Oaks, holding off Take Charge Milady by an easy 1 1/4 lengths in the Grade 1, $750,000 Ashland Stakes on Monday at Keeneland.
The Grade 1, $750,000 Ashland Stakes drew a field of eight, with graded stakes-winning juveniles La Cara and Muhimma joined by Look Forward, Running Away, and Take Charge Milady, all stakes winners this winter.