By admin 
Tracy Farmer’s Time to Dazzle rolled by her rivals in the stretch to defend her title in Sunday’s 30th running of the $400,000 Franklin (G2) for fillies and mares sprinting on the turf at Keeneland.
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The 5-year-old Not This Time mare, ridden by under Irad Ortiz Jr. for trainer Mark Casse, secured her second win in the 5½-furlong Franklin. She won by a nose from Kehoe Beach, who wrested the lead in the final sixteenth from pacesetter and 35-1 longshot Itzel before being caught on the wire.
Time to Dazzle finished the trip in 1:04.52 as the 2-1 favorite in the field of seven.
Time to Dazzle, a $310,000 graduate of the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, won last year’s Franklin by 3¼ lengths for her lone victory in six starts in 2005. She showed her fondness for Keeneland’s turf course again Sunday, storming home for her first victory in her her seventh start since last year’s edition of the race.
Second in both the Hendrie (G3) at Woodbine and the Never Say Die Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Sprint (G1) at Kentucky Downs in her last two starts, Time to Dazzle came away well and settled at the back of the field early. Itzel took control and led Usha, Pondering, and Ag Bullet up the backstretch and through the opening quarter-mile in :22.47 over the yielding course.
Itzel continued to lead around the turn and turned for home in front with Kehoe Beach tracking to her outside. Time to Dazzle still raced in sixth at the three-sixteenths pole. Fourth with a furlong to run, she passed rivals on the outside ahead of another closer, Movin’ On Up.
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Kehoe Beach came away with the lead inside the final sixteenth and looked to be on the way to her second win in three starts on Keeneland’s turf course before Time to Dazzle nipped her at the finish. Itzel finished 1¼ lengths back in third and a length clear of Movin’ On Up in fourth. Usha, Pondering and Ag Bullet completed order of finish.
Bred in Kentucky by Dr. Rodney Orr from the Unbridled’s Song mare Staria, Time to Dazzle improved to five wins from 21 career starts and collected $241,800 to boost her bankroll to $1,421,521.
Time to Dazzle returned $6.10.
FRANKLIN QUOTES
Irad Ortiz Jr. (winning rider of favored Time to Dazzle): “The ground was a little soft, so I just wanted to give her a chance and try to make a run at the end; hopefully, they’d come back to me. She broke so good. I just waited (for) my time, trying to relax. On the turn I had to wait a little longer, but she got there. She did a great job. When I tipped her out, she gave me a good kick turning for home. Especially on this ground — a little soft, it’s hard to have that kind of turn of foot, but she did and I knew we had every chance to get there.”
Tracy Farmer (winning owner): “(One reason she likes Keeneland so much is that) she’s about five miles from home, so she’s wanting to go home, I think, but she loves it here and this is her weather. It’s wonderful to win a race at Keeneland. She does it that way (from well off the pace) all the time, but it makes you nervous. She’s a wonderful filly.”
Jose Ortiz (rider of runner-up Kehoe Beach): “I had a beautiful trip, just behind the leader. When I pulled her out, I went to my left-handed crop and she responded well. I could feel someone was coming; I was just a (head) bob short.”
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This story was originally published October 11, 2026 at 3:11 PM.