Key of Life hangs on in Beaumont

Although the about seven-furlong Beaumont was the final scoring opportunity on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, the participants weren’t in line for the 1 1/8-mile test at Churchill Downs. None would have had sufficient points to make the field anyway with a 10-4-3-2-1 format, and some, like Key of Life, are focused on sprints.

Indeed, Key of Life was reaching the limit of her stamina in the Beaumont, the longest race she’s tried so fat. Under Flavien Prat, who recently committed to ride Cox’s Angel of Empire in the Kentucky Derby (G1), Key of Life sped to the lead and made bold to go all the way.

Opus Forty Two was her first pursuer, but she couldn’t maintain that position through a very fast pace. Stonewall Star advanced into a chasing second on the far turn. Yet she too flattened out, unable to keep on in the lane, as Key of Life drew off by 2 1/2 lengths.

Then Interpolate proved the real danger. Settled several lengths back early, the 4.48-1 second choice began to gain momentum swinging for home, and sustained it. In the final furlong, Key of Life’s margin dwindled, and Interpolate appeared to have the favorite in her grasp. Yet Key of Life refused to yield, and stuck her neck out to prevail in 1:27.32.

“She really dug in,” Prat said. “But as soon as the other horse got close, she really dug in and gave me another gear to get us to the wire.”

“The last eighth of a mile (I was) sweating it out,” Cox said. “I don’t know how much farther she wants to go or if she wants to go any farther at all. I think she’s probably better at three-quarters, 6 1/2 (furlongs), but we’re glad to get the victory today.”

The Beaumont’s allocation of Oaks points is therefore of academic interest only. Key of Life earned 10 points, and Interpolate picked up four. There was a 6 1/4-length gap back to third-placer Stonewall Star (three points), followed by She’s on the Rocks (two points). Opus Forty Two received one point in fifth, for a total of five. Shoplifter and Fun and Feisty brought up the rear.

Flurry Racing and Hoffman Family Racing’s Key of Life is now a perfect 3-for-3 at Keeneland, including a romp in last October’s Myrtlewood S. Her overall scorecard stands at 8-5-0-3, $633,275. Third in the Nov. 26 Fern Creek S. at Churchill and in the Feb. 11 Dixie Belle S. at Oaklawn, the bay was coming off a score in the Purple Martin S. also in Hot Springs.

Key of Life, a $350,000 OBS April purchase, is from the first crop of the Uncle Mo stallion Mo Town. Bred by Moreau Bloodstock International in Kentucky, she is out of Longride to Wisdom, a Harlan’s Holiday mare from the family of unbeaten Grade 2 star and sire Kantharos.