By Christina Bossinakis
Continuing an important weekend as next month's Breeders' Cup World Championships rapidly approach, Keeneland's GI Juddmonte Spinster Stakes headlines Sunday's graded stakes action spanning from coast to coast.
A 'Win and You're In' for the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff, the Spinster has six contenders signed on, including last season's champion older mare Idiomatic (Curlin), who draws the rail under regular pilot Florent Geroux. The winner of a trio of Grade I stakes in 2023–capped off by the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita–the Juddmonte homebred has proven consistent at five, while showing a couple of chinks in the armor.
An impressive 3 3/4-length winner in a sloppy renewal of Churchill's GI La Troienne Stakes May 3, the bay found Randomized (Nyquist) a head too good in the GI Ogden Phipps Stakes at Saratoga June 8. Earning a hard-fought win over Soul of an Angel (Atreides) in Monmouth's GIII Matchmaker Stakes July 20, the Brad Cox trainee again had to play second fiddle– this time to the closing Raging Sea (Curlin)–after enduring a contested early pace in the nine-furlong GI Personal Ensign Stakes at the Spa Aug. 23.
The only other top-level winner in the field is Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Candied (Candy Ride {Arg}). Trained by Todd Pletcher, the 3-year-old is reunited with Luis Saez, who was aboard for her victory in last season's GI Alcibiades Stakes over this track. Fourth in the GI Ashland Stakes in April, the bay took Monmouth's Lady's Secret Stakes June 8 before finishing second to GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) in the July 20 GI CCA Oaks over nine furlongs. Favored in the 1 1/4-mile GI Alabama at the Spa Aug. 17, she finished a head second behind Power Squeeze (Union Rags).
Also tabbed for fillies and mares, three and up, the Big A's GII Beldame Stakes is headed by returning Grade I winner Raging Sea, who is three for four this season, having also annexed the nine-furlong GII Shuvee Stakes at the Spa July 21 and the 1 1/16-mile GIII Doubledogdare at Keeneland in April. The Alpha Delta hombred will be ridden by her regular partner Flavien Prat.
Several key juveniles races also highlight Sunday's graded action, led by the GII Miss Grillo Stakes, a 'Win and You're In' for the Breeders' Cup John Deere Juvenile Fillies Turf. Pushed back a week due to excessive rainfall, the 1 1/16-mile turf event features several of the continent's most recognizable trainers, headed by Chad Brown, who is represented by a trio here. Leading the fray is first out winners Lavender Disaster (Into Mischief), victorious at the Big A Sept. 15 and Marvelous Madison (Caravaggio), who closed from off the pace to score at the Spa Sept. 2. Brown also saddles Virgin Colada (More Than Ready), who took her Spa debut July 21 before finishing a close-up second as the favorite in the Aug. 28 P.G. Johnson Stakes.
Trainer Mark Casse offers up a pair–D J Stables Shifty (Medaglia d'Oro) and Gary Barber's She's Got Will (War of Will). The former was a last-out winner of Woodbine's 6 1/2-furlong Catch a Glimpse Stakes Aug. 23, while the latter took her Aug. 15 bow at Saratoga before finishing third most recently in the Juvenile Fillies Stakes at Kentucky Downs Sept. 8.
Also lining up off a last-out victory, Calumet Farm's Correto (English Channel), winner at Kentucky Downs Sept. 1 for trainer by Graham Motion and Lawrence Goichman's Scythian (Tiz the Law). Trained by Bill Mott, the New York bred took her route and turf debut at Saratoga Aug. 30.
Also highlighting the supporting juvenile graded stakes action Sunday, Keeneland features the 1 1 1/16-mile GII Castle & Key Bourbon Stakes, while Belmont at the Big A hosts the six-furlong GIII Matron Stakes. On the West Coast, Santa Anita offers the Surfer Girl Stakes and the Zuma Beach Stakes, both contested over a mile on the turf course.
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