Sultana, Ayra Stark Rematch in Keertana Stakes

One week after male long-distance turf runners competed in the Louisville Stakes (G3T), their female counterparts vie on the Churchill Downs grass course May 23 in the 1 1/2-mile, $250,000 Keertana Stakes. Although ungraded, the Keertana drew fillies of graded caliber. Sultana and Ayra Stark (ARG)—1-2 in the March 28 Orchid Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park—lead the field of eight fillies and mares. Golden Sunshine and Way to Be Marie—2-3 in the April 24 Bewitch Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland—add further class to the field. Lou Donato, Theodore Manziaris, Paul Borrelli, and Lanni Bloodstock's Sultana ships to Churchill Downs from Woodbine, where she has been based since last month after being sent north from Florida by trainer Kevin Attard. Junior Alvarado travels to Kentucky from New York for the return mount on the 5-year-old Always Dreaming mare. The Orchid marked her fourth win in just six starts and her third straight after she closed out 2025 with two victories, first by winning a 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claimer on turf and then by rallying to take the 1 1/4-mile Maple Leaf Stakes (G3) over Woodbine's all-weather Tapeta surface. Sultana likely will have Haymarket Farm's Ayra Stark to catch, as was the case in the Orchid. A group 2 winner in her native Argentina in 2024, she enters the Keertana off three consecutive runner-up stakes finishes for Laurel Park-based trainer Horacio De Paz. The Jose Ortiz-ridden mare is the 9-5 morning-line favorite ahead of Sultana at 3-1.