Keeneland has a Pick 6 carryover of $211,734 for Friday

4 G Racing’s homebred Crown Imperial returned to the races from an eight-month layoff in style to win Thursday’s featured $130,000 Hunter Valley Purse for fillies and mares by a head over Creed’s Gold. (Click here for a video of the race.)

Trained by John Ortiz for his second winner of the afternoon and ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. (no relation), Crown Imperial completed the 5½ furlongs on a turf course rated as good in 1:04.67.

Crown Imperial dueled with Always Wanting in the run down the backstretch and until the top of the stretch. Crown Imperial put that initial threat away only to have Creed’s Gold take up the chase in the upper stretch but never going past.

A 4-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Classic Empire, Crown Imperial is out of the Congrats mare Mi Fiori. She now owns a 12-3-2-3 record and increased her earnings to $510,964 with Thursday’s $76,570 check. 

Crown Imperial returned $8.20, $4.54 and $3.6 as the favorite in the field of niner. Creed’s Gold, ridden by Jose Ortiz, paid $4.44 and $3.32 with High Fashion Kate finishing third under Reylu Gutierrez and paying $6.20 to show.

*************************

Racing continues Friday with a 10-race program beginning at 1 p.m. ET and featuring the 37th running of the $650,000 Maker’s Mark Mile (G1). The Maker’s Mark Mile will be the afternoon’s ninth race with a 5:16 p.m. post time.

Keeneland will offer a Pick 6 carryover of $211,734.