BALNIKHOV (IRE) CARRIES D’AMATO BANNER
IN SATURDAY’S VISITLEX ELKHORN

Trainer Phil D’Amato was all set to ship a number of his grass runners to Keeneland for the Spring Meet, but in the end only one luminary of note made the trip: Balnikhov (IRE).

“He looked at the forecast for early in the meet with all the rain, and he didn’t put most of them on the plane,” said assistant Glenn Brookfield, who is overseeing D’Amato’s string here. “But Balnikhov, he loves soft ground.”

Early in the week, less than firm turf looked to be a possibility for Saturday’s 40th running of the $400,000 VisitLEX Elkhorn (G2) for 4-year-olds and up going 1½ miles on the grass. That possibility has begun to evaporate as the week has gone on.

Firm or soft, Balnikhov looks to be a formidable player Saturday.

In two visits to Kentucky, Balnikhov finished second in the 2022 American Turf (G2) Presented by BMW at Churchill Downs and that fall won the Bryan Station (G3) to give D’Amato the third of his four Keeneland stakes victories.

“I was a little concerned about the 12 post, but he’ll just drop over to the rail at the back of the pack and watch them all,” Brookfield said of Balnikhov, who will be making his 20th consecutive graded stakes start.

A millionaire with three Grade 3 victories and eight graded stakes placings on his resume, Balnikhov has done most of his running going a mile.

“I think he can get a mile and a half,” Brookfield said. “The time he did, he just got a beat a half-length (in last fall’s Hollywood Turf Cup-G2).”

Should the rain make an appearance, Balnikhov would be good with that.

“The last time he ran on soft ground, he won,” Brookfield said of the Dinner Party (G3) at Pimlico on Preakness Day last year. “If we get rain and the race comes off the grass, he’ll scratch like he did for the allowance race (at Keeneland on April 6).”