Keeneland Horse Racing Picks for Thursday 4/13/23

The three-week Keeneland Spring Meet continues with 9 races on Thursday and post time at 1 p.m. ET. The big opening weekend included the $1 million Blue Grass Stakes which was won by Tapit Trice, who will be running as one of the favorites in the May 6 Kentucky Derby.

As always, check the program for scratches and changes, monitor the weather and keep an eye on the track conditions.

(I will reference Equibase's Speed Figure in selected races, which tells you how fast a horse has been running in each of its races after adjusting for track, distances, and conditions).

Keeneland Betting Picks

According to numberFire horse racing projections and Guaranteed Tip Sheet, these are some of the best bets to make at FanDuel Racing today.

1. Quality Star and Diamond Hands, Race 6

FanDuel Racing Odds: 8/1 and 7/5
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Race 6 is an Allowance race for older fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on the turf. The top pick by numberFire's data is Eidikos (5/1) with leading jockey John Velazquez riding. The favorite Diamond Hands (7/5) is the top win challenger, and top jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. rides for top trainer Todd Pletcher.

Diamond Hands finished second off a layoff in Feb., going 7/8 miles and pressing the wire-to-wire winner. Eidikos makes her US debut and has hit the board in 5 of 12 starts despite facing better runners in many races.

Guaranteed Tip Sheet (GTS) has a best bet on Quality Star (8/1), who broke her maiden here in Oct. and finished third last race. She's got consistent speed figures to fit.

2. Curl Girl and Princess Cairo, Race 7

FanDuel Racing Odds: 9/5 and 15/1
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Race 7 is a Maiden Special Weight for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles. Curl Girl (9/5) is the favorite and top pick of both numberFire and GTS. Sired by the great Curlin, she makes her third start with improved speed coming off a third-place finish. EPO trainer Phil D'Amato ships her in from out west with good intentions and Flavien Prat riding.

Princess Cairo (15/1) is a longshot projected to challenge for an in-the-money finish with jockey Luis Saez up. She led through 3/4 miles last race at 2/1 odds and can continue to improve in her third start.

3. Verbal and Script, Race 8

FanDuel Racing Odds: 5/2 and 6/1
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Race 8 is an Allowance race for older horses at 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Script (6/1) and the favorite Verbal (5/2) jockeys John Velazquez and Irad Ortiz, Jr. have solid horses again.

Verbal is 2-for-4, having won a Grade 3 race out west in Nov. with improved speed in subsequent graded stakes races. Script has been running out west in good health and with consistently solid speed figures in her last five races since last fall with a win here in Oct.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.