Beaumont concludes Road to Kentucky Oaks

Here are three talking points for the Beaumont, carded as the eighth race with a post time of 4:44 p.m. (ET):

1. Even-money favorite Key of Life is 2-for-2 at Keeneland.

Trainer Brad Cox, who sent Matareya out to dominate last year’s Beaumont, returns with another hot favorite in Key of Life. Twice a winner during Keeneland’s fall meet, by a combined total of 13 lengths, Key of Life earned her first stakes score in the Oct. 28 Myrtlewood S. She most recently wired the March 25 Purple Martin S. at Oaklawn Park, and now bids to carray her speed another furlong or so. Key of Life is tactically drawn on the outside of the seven-filly field with Flavien Prat aboard.

2. Stonewall Star and Interpolate exit big wins on the East Coast.

Stonewall Star just demolished the Feb. 18 Wide Country S. at Laurel by 11 lengths, proving herself outside of New York-bred company. Her previous stakes scores had come versus state-breds at Aqueduct in last November’s Key Cents S. and the Jan. 22 Franklin Square S.

Fellow New York shipper Interpolate represents the powerful tandem of Klaravich Stables and trainer Chad Brown. By leading sire Into Mischief, she rolled from just off the pace in the Feb. 5 Ruthless at Aqueduct.

3. Fun and Feisty and Shoplifter ran one-two in the first Oaks scoring race. 

The Road to the Kentucky Oaks began with the Sept. 17 Pocahontas (G3) at Churchill Downs, where Fun and Feisty uncorked a terrific rally from far back to beat Shoplifter. Fun and Feisty hasn’t progressed on the trail since then, and trainer Ken McPeek opts to shorten up in trip. Shoplifter, third in a six-furlong Fair Grounds allowance in her comeback, could move forward off that tightener for Eddie Kenneally.

Opus Forty Two is another with experience in an Oaks prep, coming off a fourth in the Feb. 11 Suncoast S. at Tampa Bay Downs. That marked her first try around two turns. In her prior start, the Arnaud Delacour pupil held on in a photo in the seven-furlong Gasparilla S., so she reverts to about that distance here.