Courtesy of DRF.com
A long list of entries into the Grade 2, $400,000 Giant’s Causeway Stakes on Sunday at Keeneland spells trouble for at least one potentially key player. The race’s short distance could compromise the chances of another.
The Giant’s Causeway, carded for 5 1/2 furlongs on turf and open to older fillies and mares, broke the entry box. Sixteen horses appear in the past performance pages, but only a dozen can start, and the 3-1 morning-line favorite, Shining Star, is stuck on the also-eligible list. She is, however, the first also-eligible, and the high rate of scratches in Kentucky gives connections hope that Shining Star will make the field.
“Twelve horses, I look at it as almost guaranteed,” trainer Brad Cox said Friday. “We’re preparing her to run.”
Love Cervere, winner of half her eight grass races, ships from Florida to make her 4-year-old bow for trainer Miguel Clement. Talented and progressive, Love Cervere never has put a wrong hoof forward in one-turn turf races, but her three stakes wins during a strong 2025 campaign came in races at six or 6 1/2 furlongs.
“I’m not sure, to be honest,” Clement said, asked if Love Cervere could get home at a distance as short as 5 1/2 furlongs. “But at the end of the day she needs to get going and start somewhere.”
