2026 Bewitch Stakes Betting Odds and Contenders Preview

Key Takeaways:

• The 2026 Bewitch Stakes presents a classic long-distance turf test where proven stamina and the ability to sustain a late run over 1½ miles often outweigh raw early speed or recent sprint form.
• A field composed of runners exiting eight different prep races introduces significant form-line uncertainty, increasing the likelihood that race shape and trip dynamics will play a decisive role in separating closely matched contenders.
• Horses with recent experience in graded long-distance turf company arrive with a practical edge, particularly those who have already demonstrated the ability to finish strongly at or near this demanding distance.
• Historical trends point toward Gulfstream Park as a productive launching point for contenders, reinforcing the value of recent competition against similar marathon-style turf fields heading into this race at Keeneland Race Course.
• In marathon turf races featuring experienced older fillies and mares, consistency and adaptability across different pace scenarios frequently determine the outcome, especially when no single runner enters with a clear class advantage over the field.

Long-distance turf fillies and mares take center stage on Friday, April 24, closing day at Keeneland, for the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes. The 1 ½-mile test for fillies and mares offers a $350,000 purse and drew a field of nine.

California turf route mainstay Mrs. Astor ships east for the first time since fall of 2024, when she was fourth in the Dowager (G3) at Keeneland. Her foes include divisional up-and-comers like Just Basking and Speed Shopper, as well as mainstays like Venencia and Way to Be Marie.

The Bewitch started as a two-year-old race, which makes historical sense since Bewitch was a juvenile champion. It was changed to an older-horse race in 1979, became a turf race in 1986, and was extended to its current 1 ½-mile distance in 1995. The undisputed queen of this race is War Like Goddess, who won it in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Another notable winner is Lady Shakespeare (2010) – she was a two-time graded-stakes winner herself, her dam was the Grade 1 winner Lady Shirl, and she is the dam of Grade 1 winner Lady Speightspeare.

Bewitch Stakes 2026 Information

• Race Date: Friday, April 24, 2026
• Track: Keeneland
• Post Time: 4:44 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
• Distance: 1 ½ miles on the turf
• Age/Sex: four-year-olds and up, fillies and mares
• Where to Watch: FanDuel TV
• Where to Bet: FanDuel Racing

Bewitch Stakes Odds

This is the field for the 2026 Bewitch Stakes, including post positions, trainers, jockeys, and official morning-line odds for the field.

Bewitch Stakes Prep Results

The nine horses in the Bewitch come out of eight different races. The only one with more than one horse coming out of it is the Orchid (G3) at Gulfstream on March 28: Speed Shopper was third beaten by just a length, and Just Basking rallied for fourth, just half a length behind Speed Shopper.

Two others come out of graded-stakes company. Venencia also comes out of a race at Gulfstream; she was fifth behind Just Basking in the Very One (G3) on February 28 and has freshened up since then. Mrs. Astor was last seen running a late-rallying third in the 1 ¼-mile Santa Ana (G3) at Santa Anita on March 15.

Three other entrants come out of upgraded stakes races. Way to Be Marie won the Tom Benson Memorial, going 1 1/16 miles on the Fair Grounds grass on March 21. Triumphant Spirit has gotten a break since finishing a troubled eighth in the 1 1/16-mile Marie Krantz Memorial on the Fair Grounds turf January 17. Literate was a well-beaten fourth in the 1 1/16-mile Latonia at Turfway on March 21 and switches back to grass for the first time since last summer.

The other two horses come out of allowances on the Tapeta at Turfway. Virgin Colada crossed the wire second after a rough trip in a second-level race at 1 ¼ miles on February 25, but was placed first after the stewards determined that she had been interfered with. Golden Sunshine was nosed out in a conditioned allowance at a mile at Turfway on February 11, and has freshened up for this.

Bewitch Stakes Contenders

These are the contenders in the Bewitch Stakes, organized by post position:

1. Way to Be Marie: She steps up from a win in ungraded company last out, but has been able to graze at underneath pieces in graded-stakes races before. The distance is a question – she is Grade 3-placed at 1 5/16 miles but has yet to try a race this long and finished only evenly in her one try at 1 ⅜ miles. Perhaps she’ll be better this time, second off the lay instead of at the end of a long campaign, though, and it’s a positive that she keeps her last-out winning jockey, Luis Saez.
2. Virgin Colada: She was one of the more talked-about turf juveniles of 2024, but didn’t do much at three and was moved from the Chad Brown barn to the Mike Maker barn late last year. She seems to have found her way in longer races, however, rattling off her first- and second-level allowance conditions in 1 ¼-mile races at Turfway over the winter. This does look like the beginning of a Mike Maker long-distance success story, and jockey Flavien Prat already had some success with Virgin Colada earlier in her career.
3. Venencia: She is already a graded-stakes winner over this course and distance – she won the Dowager (G3) last October in her last start for her previous trainer, Brendan Walsh. After selling at Keeneland, she returned for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.; though Joseph has been winning a lot this year, Venencia has not finished better than third in a trio of long-distance turf stakes at Gulfstream. That leaves the question – is she past her prime, or did she just not like Gulfstream?
4. Triumphant Spirit: This four-year-old trained by Brendan Walsh, who won the Bewitch last year, is making just her eighth start and her graded-stakes debut. It looks like an ambitious spot – she is a winner over the local course, but that came at a flat mile, and she hasn’t raced past 1 1/16 miles yet. There are reasons to toss her last-out effort in the ungraded Marie Krantz, as she had early trouble and had to settle further off the pace than usual. But, she still has yet to run a race that makes her fast enough to match leading contenders in this.
5. Golden Sunshine: She was well beaten in her only graded-stakes try, but that happened last May and was a 1 ⅛-mile race. She has put it together in allowance company since then, clearing her first- and second-level conditions and just missing in a tougher conditioned race at Turfway last out. 1 ½ miles will be a new challenge for her, but she intrigues for that stretch out: she won at 1 ¼ miles at Turfway two back, missed by just a head going 1 3/16 miles on the Keeneland lawn last year, and being by Medaglia d’Oro out of a Dubawi mare with deep class and stamina through the female family, this may be just what she needs.
6. Mrs. Astor: She has been a dependable runner in stakes between 1 ¼ miles and 1 ½ miles on the lawn on the California circuit in recent years, and is more proven over the distance than anyone in the race. Class is the question, however, as West Coast turf horses often don’t hold up against East Coast or Kentucky company. And, she was a turf horse who shipped west after not quite cutting it as a stakes horse out east. She wasn’t disgraced over this course and distance in the 2024 Dowager – she was beaten only three lengths for all the money – but especially on the win end, she probably won’t be the price to risk the class question.
7. Just Basking: This late runner was a nice dirt horse in 2024, winning the Iowa Oaks and missing by just a length in the Alabama (G1). Though she ran off the board in a turf try at age four, she tried the grass again in her last two starts, and it’s looking like a nice prospect for these longer races. She won the 1 ⅜-mile Very One in February and then just came on too late for a 1 ½-length fourth in the Orchid. Ian Wilkes already struck hard in the males’ complement to this race with Burnham Square, who aired in the Ekhorn (G2) on Saturday, and has another promising long-distance turf prospect here.
8. Literate: The 7-2 morning-line odds on Literate have to be because she is trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr., because they can’t be based on her form. Yes, she’s bred top and bottom for the lawn, but she hasn’t been better than second in five tries on the grass, and only really came around on the Tapeta at Turfway and Woodbine. She has also been better in races shorter than this, more in the range of a two-turn mile or 1 1/16 miles. Perhaps Brad Cox is trying to figure out what options he has with her into the summer, but nothing in her form suggests she’ll provide betting value here.
9. Speed Shopper: Off over a year between February 2024 and May 2025, Speed Shopper has put it together on turf and all-weather. She graduated going 1 ⅜ miles at Saratoga last summer, just missed in the Rodeo Drive (G2) at 1 ¼ miles, won the Florence at 1 ¼ miles on Tapeta, and won the 1 ½-mile Christophe Clement (G3) at Gulfstream two back. She didn’t have a great trip last out in the Orchid (G3) over the same course and distance, and still came re-rallying for a close third. She keeps jockey John Velazquez from her last two starts, she can run her race at multiple tracks, and she can stay the distance. In short, she’s the horse to beat.

Bewitch Stakes Past Winners Past Performances

The last ten editions of the Bewitch stretch back to 2015 since the race wasn’t contested in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Gulfstream is the most common prep spot for recent winners of the Bewitch: six of the last 10 winners have come out of a race in Hallandale Beach. Four came out of graded-stakes races: Olorda (2016) won the Very One, Forever After All was fifth in that race, War Like Goddess (2021) won the Orchid (G3), and Ickymasho (2019) was the runner-up. Two others came out of off-the-board finishes in much shorter turf allowances at Gulfstream: Cay Dancer (2015) was fourth going 1 1/16 miles, and Quiet Business (2017) was seventh at a flat mile.

War Like Goddess made her seasonal debut in the Bewitch; the other two times she won it. Her 2022 win was her first start since a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Her victory in 2023 came in her first start since finishing third against the boys in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Two other tracks each account for one recent winner of the Bewitch. Mom’s On Strike (2018) won in her first start since finishing fourth in the 1 1/16-mile New Orleans Ladies Overnight on the Fair Grounds grass. Chop Chop (2024) switched back to turf after a runner-up finish in the 1 1/16-mile Latonia on the Turfway Tapeta.

Bewitch Stakes: 3 Best Bets

These are the three best bets in the 2026 Bewitch Stakes:

1. Speed Shopper (5-2)

Though Speed Shopper is the morning-line favorite, the presence of horses like Literate and Mrs. Astor near the top of the market means there is still likely value on other horses among the market leaders, and that includes Speed Shopper. She has turned a corner since taking a long layoff and moving to the barn of Will Walden, and the soul of the matter is – put her on turf or even Tapeta, and the more distance, the better.

She has the tactical speed to work an outside tracking trip from this gate. Last time out, even in defeat over this distance, she showed that she can stay interested and keep fighting even if the trip isn’t perfect. Making her second start off a freshening, she has some upside to move forward off of an already-good start, and though she has yet to race at Keeneland, she has taken her form to enough racetracks to show that she’s a good horse who can show up anywhere.

2. Just Basking (9-2)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Ian Wilkes has a nice dirt horse who turns out to be even nicer on the grass. That’s the story playing out with Burnham Square right now, but that also looks like the trajectory for Just Basking. Even in her dirt days, distance looked like the key for Just Basking: she graduated at 1 ¼ miles on the Churchill Downs dirt and finished a close third in the Alabama (G1) over that same distance in the summer of 2024.

She only raced once at four, but a pair of turf starts at five years old make it look like distance remains the key – she has been able to build on her best form from earlier in her career and emerge as an exciting long-distance turf prospect. She rallied from well off the pace to spring the upset in the Very One (G3) in February, and came running just a little too late into a slower pace in the Orchid (G3), still finishing a good fourth – 1 ½ lengths out of the win and just ½ length behind Speed Shopper. That’s a quality form line, and especially given how fairly 1 ½-mile races at Keeneland play to later runners, this is a perfect next spot for Just Basking.

3. Virgin Colada (12-1)

Virgin Colada has a lot of class to prove here, since her graded-stakes form is from all the way back in her juvenile year – but she’ll be a price, and she comes out for just the right connections who could help her put it together here. After starting her career with Chad Brown, she is now in the barn of Mike Maker, who does his best work with older long-distance turf horses. The allowance-level mile back in November, her first start for Maker, was too short, but she made very good account in her next two starts, both at 1 ¼ miles on the Tapeta at Turfway.

Now, she switches back to turf, and she gets Flavien Prat back in the irons for the first time since she was racing in the Brown barn. 1 ½ miles is a new challenge, but worthy to try after her form picked up so much when trying 1 ¼. And, with Keeneland playing so fairly to horses who like to run on late, it’s the right place to try her and see if she can hold her own at the graded-stakes level after all.

Bewitch Stakes Undercard

The Bewitch is the eighth of 10 races on the Keeneland card Friday. The race is the traditional closing-day feature at the Lexington track, and the only stakes race on the card.

However, there is a full day of competitive fields on both turf and dirt, featuring everything from juvenile maidens to hard-knocking, experienced starter allowance horses. No matter what kinds of races you like to bet, it’s a perfect day to watch on 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. 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 central Kentucky horse country, it is also a designated National Historic Landmark.

Bewitch Stakes FAQ

Q: When and where is the Bewitch Stakes?

A: The Bewitch (G3) happens Friday, April 24, the closing day of the spring meet at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky. It is the eighth race on the 10-race card, and post time is scheduled for 4:44 p.m. EDT.

Q: Which trainer has the most wins in the Bewitch Stakes?

A: Bill Mott leads all trainers with six victories. Heatherten (1984) won it in its dirt era, and then Gaily Gaily (1989), Miss Lenora (1993), and War Like Goddess (2021, 2022, 2023) won it on the grass.

Q: Who is the favorite for the Bewitch Stakes?

A: The 5-2 morning-line favorite for the Bewitch is Speed Shopper, who missed by only a length in the Orchid (G3) over this distance last out and won the 1 ½-mile Christophe Clement (G3) at Gulfstream on January 24. (The Christophe Clement is the race previously known as the La Prevoyante.) Off that Gulfstream form, there is a good chance she holds favoritism, though watch for action on consistent West Coast mainstay Mrs. Astor (4-1). Be skeptical about action on Literate (7-2); she is trained by Brad Cox, so she will be bet, but her all-weather form is significantly better than her turf form.

Q: Who is the best Bewitch Stakes jockey?

A: Retired jockey Pat Day is the all-time win leader in the Bewitch with six victories between 1983 and 1997. Among riders with a call in the 2026 edition, John Velazquez leads with two wins, with Safari Queen in 2007 and Lady Shakespeare in 2010. Velazquez can win a third with morning-line favorite Speed Shopper in 2026.

Q: Who won the 2025 Bewitch Stakes?

A: Forever After All won the 2025 Bewitch for trainer Brendan Walsh and jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. Walsh entered long shot Triumphant Spirit in 2026; Ben Curtis takes the call. Irad Ortiz, Jr. will ride Literate for Brad Cox.

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