After two unlucky summer losses, Idiomatic should right ship in Spinster
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Small consolation to the people associated with the animal, but it takes a special, versatile horse to lose a Grade 1 race by a head after being caught wide and too far behind a slow tempo, and then lose another Grade 1 by a head after dueling on a torrid pace.
So the summer went for the champion mare Idiomatic, who came out on the right side of a tight finish in the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher in July, but on the wrong side of one in the Ogden Phipps in June and the Personal Ensign in August.
Her trainer, Brad Cox, maintains that the Idiomatic of today has all the verve of the Idiomatic of one year ago, which, if true, means Idiomatic on Sunday will win the Spinster Stakes for the second year in a row. The Spinster is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
Idiomatic breaks from the rail under Florent Geroux in the Grade 1, $600,000 Spinster, and while there’s some pace among the five horses drawn outside her, there’s no one who can touch Idiomatic on her best day. The mare’s a reasonable 3-5 on the track’s morning line, and if she does what she’s supposed to do, Idiomatic heads to Del Mar set for a clash with leading 3-year-old Thorpedo Anna in the BC Distaff.
“I feel like she’s every bit as good as she was last year. She might not have gotten her picture taken every time. She’s trained very, very well,” said Cox of Idiomatic, a 5-year-old daughter of Curlin who is owned by her breeder, Juddmonte Farms.
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Idiomatic has plenty of pace but broke flat-footed in the Phipps, got caught wide, and could not quite run down Randomized, who raced forwardly on the tepid tempo and has a special fondness for the Saratoga surface. The Molly Pitcher turned into a slog as well, with Idiomatic pinned down at the fence, passed after Soul of an Angel made an aggressive early move. Idiomatic eventually got back up to win by a head.
In the Personal Ensign, Idiomatic slugged it out with Randomized through a half mile in 46.66 seconds. Randomized caved, losing by 15 lengths. Idiomatic ran on bravely, only to get tagged on the wire by Raging Sea.
Strategy from post 1 in the Spinster? Cox won’t get specific but doesn’t fear the rail draw.
“The break’s important to get a good position. I think it’s okay as long as you get away well,” he said.
Chad Brown trains Randomized and Raging Sea, and having taken down Idiomatic with those two horses now tries to get her with Occult, a lesser upset candidate. Winless from three starts this year, Occult’s high-water mark came winning the 2023 Monmouth Oaks by more than 10 lengths.
“I’m not going to say I’m going into the race with a lot of confidence to beat Idiomatic, but [Occult] has had a couple tough trips. We felt like she had a very big race in her somewhere, and her last couple works have been very, very good,” Brown said.
A year ago to the day, Candied won the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland, and as a 3-year-old with just seven starts, presumably still improving, Candied has a shot at an upset. Candied for much of her career habitually failed to change leads in the homestretch of races and workouts, but she switched on cue her last two starts, a distant second to Thorpedo Anna in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks and a near miss behind Power Squeeze in the Grade 1 Alabama.
“She’s been improving in that area, not only in the afternoons but in the mornings,” said Todd Pletcher, who trains Candied for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. “We’ve got one very tough horse to beat in this race. You can argue she’s second choice.”
Candied will stalk and try to pounce, hoping either that Loved applies pressure to Idiomatic or that Idiomatic, if Geroux tries to take back a bit and come around, gets stuck behind horses.
When Candied beat Honor D Lady by 4 1/2 lengths in the Lady’s Secret at Monmouth in June, a bad stumble at the start cost Honor D Lady several lengths. Honor D Lady returned to handle a modest bunch winning the Delaware Handicap on July 7, and races for the first time since.
It was in the 2023 Delaware Handicap, where she overcame a terrible trip, that Idiomatic first truly expressed her elite talent. If she’s the same horse Sunday as she was then, a second Spinster is hers.
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