2025 Jenny Wiley Stakes Betting Odds and Contenders Preview

The filly and mare turf division takes center stage Saturday, April 12, at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, for the Jenny Wiley Stakes. The race offers a $500,000 purse (plus $150,000 in Kentucky-bred incentives, for which two of the runners are eligible), and it is perennially a first look at the best female grass horses of the year.

The field of nine includes several horses with proven overseas class, including Excellent Truth, Jabaara, and Choisya. Stateside stars include Matriarch (G1) winner Sacred Wish, Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G2) winner Be Your Best, and Mrs. Revere (G2) winner Kehoe Beach. With a competitive field from top to bottom, it should be both an excellent betting race and a great introduction to spring and summer grass racing.

A fixture of the Keeneland spring meet since 1989, the race has been graded since 1995 and a Grade 1 since 2012. Two horses have won it twice: the champion grass mares Intercontinental (2004, 2005) and Rushing Fall (2019, 2020). Other important winners include two-time champion and Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Tepin (2016), champion and Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Sistercharlie (2018), and multiple Grade 1-winning champion Regal Glory (2022).

With less than a month to go until the Kentucky Derby, check out the latest Kentucky Derby odds and see which contenders are set to compete!

2025 Jenny Wiley Stakes Information

• Race Date: Saturday, April 12, 2025
• Track: Keeneland Race Course
• Post Time: 5:48 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
• Distance: one mile on the turf
• Age/Sex: four-year-olds and up, fillies and mares
• Where to Watch: FanDuel TV
• Where to Bet: FanDuel Racing

Jenny Wiley Odds

This is the field for the 2025 Jenny Wiley, including trainers, jockeys, post positions, and morning-line odds.

Jenny Wiley Prep Results

All but two horses in the field come out of graded or group stakes races in their last starts, and all but one of them finished in the trifecta in their last start.

The only race with more than one last-out runner in the Jenny Wiley field is the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G2) on January 25 at Gulfstream. Be Your Best and Sacred Wish finished 1-2 in that spot, separated by just a neck.

Two horses other than Be Your Best also come out of Grade 2 or Group 2 wins. Choisya most recently won the Balanchine (G2) at Meydan on February 21 by a head over Cinderella’s Dream, her second group-level win at the Dubai Carnival. Kehoe Beach tries older stakes foes for the first time in her four-year-old debut; she was last seen wiring the Mrs. Revere (G2) at Churchill Downs against sophomore fillies.

Three horses other than Sacred Wish also come out of graded-stakes or group-stakes placings. Excellent Truth, the only horse coming out of a top-level event, was second beaten a length by the top-class Mqse de Sevigne in the Prix Rothschild (G1) last July at Deauville. No Show Sammy Jo was second in the Long Island (G3) last November at Aqueduct, nosed out by Be Your Best. Poolside With Slim comes out of her seasonal debut in the Honey Fox (G3) on March 1 at Gulfstream, where she chased for third, 3 ¼ lengths behind Special Wan.

Jabaara, the only horse to miss the board in her last start, is also the only runner to come out of an ungraded stakes race: she finished fourth, beaten two lengths, in the Lady Wulfruna at Wolverhampton on March 8, her seasonal bow. The only other horse not to come out of a graded or group race is Vina Arana, who is Group 3-placed in Ireland but last raced in a maiden special weight turf mile last August at Saratoga, a race she won.

Jenny Wiley Stakes Contenders

These are the contenders in the Jenny Wiley, organized by post position:

1. Excellent Truth: She is trained by Chad Brown, a prodigious winner of the Jenny Wiley, though none of those recent winners have made their first American starts in the Jenny Wiley. However, she has run decent races fresh, and with rain in the forecast for Thursday and Friday, the chance for less-than-firm turf bodes well given her soft-ground form in France. She also gets Flavien Prat in the irons, the hottest big-race jockey in the game right now.
2. Choisya: The question for her is whether she figured herself out in Dubai, or if she needed a class drop in Dubai, and that’s hard to tell. She was an honest enough handicapper in Great Britain, but didn’t break through at the Group level until going to Dubai and winning a couple of Group 2 races. Even then, she wasn’t facing most of the horses on the world stage, as she didn’t race on either World Cup night or even Super Saturday. Aggressive rider Luis Saez should be a good fit as she does have some speed, but she still has yet to prove she has the class for a proper Grade 1 like this.
3. Poolside With Slim: An honest turf sophomore for Rusty Arnold last year, she won the Valley View (G2) over this course, suggesting she’ll appreciate a return. Her first race against older foes, in the Honey Fox last out, was a decent third, and she should improve from that running. If she can run back to it (much less improve on it), she should be fast enough to hold her own against these foes, and Arnold can pop at a price with horses second off a break. Her tactical versatility is also a plus. In short … demand a price, but if she is anywhere near that huge morning-line price, there’s more than enough to like.
4. Vina Arana: She was a maiden after four starts in Ireland, though she did run on for a close third in a Group 3 at Leopardstown, her first time trying turf, back in May. She moved stateside to the barn of Jack Sisterson, broke her maiden against older foes at Saratoga in the summer, and hasn’t raced since. If she picks up where she left off, that maiden win wasn’t too far off in terms of speed. But, signals are mixed: Sisterson is actually quite good with layoff horses, but has only won once in his last 46 tries in graded-stakes races, with a 26% money rate. She also got a really fast pace to close into last time, and might not get the same dream setup this time.
5. Be Your Best: A rising new face in the turf division, this Saffie Joseph, Jr. trainee carries a three-win streak into the Jenny Wiley. She won the 1 ⅜-mile Long Island last fall, shortened up to a mile for the Swanee River (G3), and then won the 1 1/16-mile Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf last out. She has tactical speed and a nice middle gate, and her regular day at the office nowadays is fast enough to fit in this company. However, if the turf is less than firm, her form may be dulled. She also missed the board both times she has raced at Keeneland, though both of those starts were early enough in her career that it may not be a huge issue.
6. Jabaara: This Roger Varian trainee has tried top-level company enough to suggest there have always been expectations, though she has yet to win against group-level foes. She was putting it together at the end of last summer, however, finishing second to Porta Fortuna in the Falmouth (G1) and second to Raqiya in the Oak Tree (G3) last July before going on the shelf. She returned in a seven-furlong stakes on the all-weather at Wolverhampton, where she finished a troubled fourth, beaten only two lengths. Now she returns to her better surface, and she improved second off the layoff last year, meaning she has upside. However, make sure to get a look at her in the paddock and check the betting action on her … that last-out race breaks the profile of recent winners of the Jenny Wiley, but she showed enough class last out that if she picks up where she left off, she fits an she could at least get a share.
7. Kehoe Beach: She knows one way to go, and that’s to the front. Whether she is sprinting or routing, she does her best work when she finds the front, and she has never not found the front when racing on the lawn. She should be fast enough to do that in this. However, she’ll need a step forward from her previous races to be a serious win candidate. Perhaps she can: trainer Wesley Ward always comes to Keeneland correct, she reunites with Frankie Dettori, and even though this is her first stakes race against older, she beat older in allowance company twice last year. The worry is that now she is facing more experienced older stakes horses, so make sure you’re getting enough of a price, especially since Be Your Best will ensure she can’t go slow.
8. Sacred Wish: This millionaire has been in the money for 14 of her 18 starts, and has emerged a consistent presence in graded-stakes company. She broke through at the top level two back in the Matriarch, and then rallied to finish second, beaten only a neck in the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf last out, while a little further off the early pace than usual. If she can tuck in behind the frontrunners and get a clean tracking trip, she should be in the picture at the end.
9. No Show Sammy Jo: A newer face at the graded-stakes level, she was nosed out in the Long Island last out, her graded debut, and now tries the top level for the first time. Motion does well with layoff runners, suggesting she could be in good form, though Long Island was 1 ⅜ miles—significantly longer than this distance. To her credit, she won her only start at this trip as well, but that came in a second-level allowance … and her rider that day (and last out), Flavien Prat, rides Excellent Truth instead. In short, signals are mixed.

Jenny Wiley Past Winners Past Performances

Every horse who has won the Jenny Wiley in the last 10 years has come out of a money finish in a graded turf stakes race, well befitting the Jenny Wiley’s status as a proper Grade 1 event. Another extremely strong trend is trainer Chad Brown: he has trained seven of the last ten winners, including six of the last seven.

The race that has produced the most next-out Jenny Wiley winners in the last ten years is the Hillsborough (G2) at Tampa Bay Downs: Ball Dancing (2015) came out of a second-place finish, and both Tepin (2016) and Dickinson (2017) came from wins. The other with multiple last-out runners to win the Jenny Wiley in the last decade is the Matriarch (G1) in December at Del Mar. Both Juliet Foxtrot (2021) and Beaute Cachee (2024) freshened up after third-place efforts in the Matriarch and won the Jenny Wiley in their next start.

Other recent winners who started a new campaign with a Jenny Wiley win include Sistercharlie (2018), who made her first start since a second in the Belmont Oaks (G1) the previous July; Rushing Fall (2019), who won it in her first start since a win in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) the previous October at Keeneland; and In Italian (2023), who returned after a second-place run in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1).

Regal Glory (2022) won the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G3), another likely plausible avenue for future winners. Rushing Fall (2020) came out of the Beaugay (G3) to win her second Jenny Wiley, though that is an unlikely route since the first Keeneland meet of the year was run in July that year due to the pandemic.

Jenny Wiley Undercard

The Jenny Wiley is the 10th of 11 races Saturday at Keeneland. It is one of two graded-stakes races on the card. The other is the $400,000 Lexington Stakes (G3), the final Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying points race.

The rest of the day is full of large and competitive fields on both dirt and turf. With Keeneland’s trademark quality racing all day long and a huge card at Oaklawn featuring Thorpedo Anna in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1), there will be great racing and wagering all day long. You can watch every race with expert analysis at FanDuel TV, and place your bets online through FanDuel!

Keeneland

Lexington, Kentucky, is the home of one of the most important venues in worldwide horse racing—Keeneland Race Course. A group of horsemen opened the track in 1936, three years after the closure of the Kentucky Association track. Keeneland is unique in that it is not only home to a top-class racecourse, but also a sales ground from which top-class horses are purchased not just by US-based owners and trainers but from those as far afield as England, Ireland, France, and Dubai.

Racing fans flock to Keeneland for both top-class racing and excellent betting opportunities during two meets, held annually in April and October. Keeneland’s standing was highlighted again in 2009 when the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced its rating system which placed it right at the top at number one. Nestled in the heart of central Kentucky horse country, it is also a designated National Historic Landmark.

Jenny Wiley Stakes FAQ

Q: When and where is the Jenny Wiley?

A: The Jenny Wiley (G1) happens Saturday, April 12 at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky. Scheduled post time is 5:48 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and the race is carded as the 10th of 11 on the day.

Q: Which trainer has the most wins in the Jenny Wiley?

A: Chad Brown has won the Jenny Wiley seven times, with all of those wins coming since 2015. He has won the race six of the last seven years, as well. He can make it eight if Excellent Truth wins in 2025.

Q: Who is the favorite for the Jenny Wiley?

A: Coming from the dominant barn of Chad Brown and ridden by Flavien Prat, Excellent Truth is the 5-2 morning-line favorite for the Jenny Wiley. Given those connections, and her last-out Group 1 placing, she should hold as the favorite come post time.

Q: Who is the best Jenny Wiley jockey?

A: Retired jockey Jerry Bailey leads all riders with five wins in the Jenny Wiley, between 1996 and 2005. Among jockeys with mounts in the 2025 edition, Frankie Dettori (Kehoe Beach), Irad Ortiz, Jr. (Be Your Best), Jose Ortiz (Poolside With Slim), and John Velazquez (Sacred Wish) have all won the race once before.

Q: Who won the 2024 Jenny Wiley?

A: Beaute Cachee won the 2024 Jenny Wiley for trainer Chad Brown and jockey Frankie Dettori. Brown returns with morning-line favorite Excellent Truth, with Flavien Prat riding. Dettori rides 7-2 morning-line second choice Kehoe Beach for Wesley Ward.

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