Unbeaten Grade 1 winner Mani Bhavan will stretch out to 1 1/16 miles and make her first start on a synthetic surface in the $500,000 Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1) on Friday, opening day of Keeneland Race Course’s 17-day fall meeting.

The Alcibiades is one of nine stakes races worth a combined $3.4-million that will be contested during the Lexington track’s FallStars weekend. The Alcibiades winner earns an automatic starting spot in the $2-million Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) on October 24 at Santa Anita Park as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series.

Two-year-old Mani Bhavan is unbeaten in three main-track starts and will make her synthetic surface debut on Keeneland’s Polytrack surface. The Storm Boot filly earned her previous two wins in graded stakes races at Saratoga Race Course. She enters off a victory in the seven-furlong Spinaway Stakes (G1) on August 31.

Trained by Steve Klesaris for owners Puglisi Racing and TYB Stable, Mani Bhavan won the 6 1/2-furlong Adirondack Stakes (G2) on August 13 at Saratoga. The dark bay or brown filly posted a 9 1/4-length debut win against runner-up and Darley Alcibiades foe Bon Jovi Girl in a five-furlong maiden special weight race on July 12 at Delaware Park.

Bon Jovi Girl also will make her first start on a synthetic surface in the Alcibiades. The Malibu Moon filly made each of her four previous starts on the main track at Delaware Park and enters off a win in the Fairway Stakes on September 13.

Tim Ritchey trains Bon Jovi Girl and co-owns the Malibu Moon filly along with Blaze of Glory Stable.

Bon Jovi Girl and Mani Bhavan are the only stakes winners in a field of seven entered in the Alcibiades, which also includes maiden winners Be Smart, Devotee, August Rush, and Dream Empress.

The field, in post-position order, with (sire), jockey, weight, and trainer:

1. Be Smart (Smarty Jones), Garrett K. Gomez, 118, D. Wayne Lukas;

2. Devotee (Elusive Quality), Eibar Coa, 118, Thomas Albertrani;

3. Bon Jovi Girl (Malibu Moon), Jose C. Caraballo, 118, Timothy F. Ritchey;

4. August Rush (Milwaukee Brew), Julio A. Garcia, 118, Wesley A. Ward;

5. Mani Bhavan (Storm Boot), Alan Garcia, 118, Steve Klesaris;

6. Dream Empress (Bernstein), Robby Albarado, 118, Kenneth G. McPeek; and

7. Amanwella (Fusaichi Pegasus), Jeremy Rose, 118, H. Graham Motion.
(Source: Thoroughbred Times)