How to bet the Giant’s Causeway Stakes

An over-subscribed field of 16 fillies and mares are entered for the $400,000 Giant’s Causeway (G2) at Keeneland on Sunday. The 5 1/2-furlong heat on the green is among the most competitive races a handicapper can attempt to break down, with legitimate contenders leaving from every post slot in the grassy dash. 

Giant’s Causeway Wagers

• $1 exacta box 1,5,7,10,11 ($20)
• 50-cent trifecta 5,10 with 1,5,7,10,11 with 1,5,7,10,11 ($12)
• 10-cent superfecta box 1,5,7,10,11 ($12)

It’s difficult to ignore the five-for-five lifetime mark compiled by #5 Gratefully (4-1) in advance of her local debut. Trained by Robert Falcone, the daughter of Laoban ships in from California for her local and graded debut on Sunday, and the versatile filly has done nothing wrong leading up to this difficult assignment. She figures to sit just off the pace from the second flight in the early going with Irad taking the reins. 

#10 Saturday Flirt (8-1) is unbeaten in the U. S. and is two-for-two on the surface for trainer Wesley Ward. The Mendelssohn four-year-old has been off since September, but the bay has posted six morning drills at this locale as of late, and her stout late burst will make her a viable win contender in the latter stages of the feature with Walter Rodriguez in the silks.

I feel that the rail post, combined with the cutback in distance, will benefit #1 Movin’ On Up (12-1) at a nice price. One of two in the field for Saffie Joseph, the stakes-winning daughter of Accelerate, has been performing well going longer while facing some very good ladies, and I expect her to thrive at 5 1/2 panels in her first local appearance. Jose Ortiz will pilot the gray mare. 

#11 Time to Dazzle (6-1), one of a pair of win threats in the affair for Mark Casse, was a going-away heroine of the Franklin (G2) on this lawn in the fall and will be dangerous with anything resembling that showing. The five-year-old daughter of Not This Time was a respectable fourth in Saudi in her 2026 unveiling, and she will be formidable from off the pace if she is ready to fire in her first run back in the states. John Velazquez has the call. 

Joseph’s #7 In Our Time (5-1) is always well placed in the stretch in her turf attempts and has to be considered as an exotics contender at the very least. The dark bay daughter of Not This Time was runner-up in the Franklin (G2) in October in her lone prior run over this green, and having Flavien Prat in the silks is never a bad thing.