Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Lockdown takes on elders
LEXINGTON, Ky. – As 3-year-olds begin to face their elders in important stakes around this time of year, most everyone wonders how they’ll match up. One race is not definitive in that regard, but it will be interesting nonetheless to see how Lockdown fares Sunday when meeting older fillies and mares for the first time in a deep 62nd running of the Grade 1, $500,000 Spinster at Keeneland.
Lockdown, bred and owned by longtime race sponsor Juddmonte Farms, has had a productive year facing the best of the 3-year-old filly division. The First Defence filly was second in the Gazelle, Kentucky Oaks, and Mother Goose before most recently finishing third behind It Tiz Well and Abel Tasman in the Cotillion at Parx.
As to how she compares to a solid but unspectacular group of older rivals, well, that’s to be decided Sunday at 5:45 p.m. Eastern. In all, 13 are entered in the 1 1/8-mile Spinster, which goes as the ninth of 10 races on a card that starts at 1:05 Eastern. The Spinster offers a Win and You’re In berth to the Nov. 3 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
The Spinster will be televised live by the NBC Sports Network on a one-hour show (5-6 p.m.), along with the Bourbon (race 8) for 2-year-olds on the turf.
Bill Mott, the trainer of Lockdown, already has a 3-year-old filly who has emerged as one of the top Distaff contenders in Elate, an easy winner over older females last weekend in the Beldame at Belmont Park. Four years ago, when Polytrack was still the primary surface here, Mott won the Spinster for Juddmonte with Emollient, then 3, and surely he wouldn’t mind seeing the same scenario unfold here Sunday.
Jose Lezcano will be aboard Lockdown from post 6.
The chief threats to Lockdown include a fellow New York shipper Bar of Gold, along with the respective 1-2-3-4 finishers last month in the Locust Grove at Churchill Downs – Romantic Vision, Blue Prize, Tiger Moth, and Mo D’Amour.
Bar of Gold (post 8, Luis Saez) is just $1,500 shy of becoming racing’s latest millionaire after finishing second in the Presque Isle Masters last month. The 5-year-old New York-bred is a true model of versatility, having been competitive at a variety of surfaces and distances in her 23-race career.
Romantic Vision (post 11, Brian Hernandez Jr.), trained by Rusty Arnold for owner and breeder G. Watts Humphrey Jr., not only earned a careerbest Beyer Speed Figure of 92 in winning the Locust Grove, but the 5-year-old mare has run particularly well at Keeneland with two wins and a second from three starts.
“She loves it here,” said Arnold. “She’s coming off a big effort, and although we’re coming back a touch quicker than I might’ve preferred, she is doing very well. Mr. Humphrey made a decision to keep her running at 5 and it’s turned out really well.”
Blue Prize (post 10, Jimmy Graham), as an Argentine-bred, is not a Breeders’ Cup nominee, so the Spinster essentially represents the pinnacle of a season in which she has posted four runner-up finishes in as many attempts. She is trained by Ignacio Correas IV.
The stretch-running Tiger Moth (post 5, Corey Lanerie) won the biggest race of the Ellis Park meet, the Groupie Doll, for trainer Brad Cox before perhaps being compromised by a tepid pace in the Locust Grove.
Rounding out the Spinster lineup are Martini Glass, Katalust, You Know Too, Duchess of Duke, Turkish Tabby, Factory of Faith, and A Place to Shine.
The Spinster, first run in 1956, has been won by such greats as Bowl of Flowers (1961), Susan’s Girl (1973, ’75), Bayakoa (198990), and Azeri (2004). The 2016 winner was I’m a Chatterbox, ridden by Florent Geroux.
A high of 75 and a chance of rain are in the forecast for Sunday. Keeneland goes dark Monday and Tuesday before the first five-day week of this 17-day meet starts Wednesday with an eight-race card.