Del Mar Oaks winner Spendarella has 'minor setback,' done for year

Spendarella, the leading 3-year-old turf-route filly in North America, won’t race again in 2022 because of “a minor setback,” trainer Graham Motion said Saturday.

Spendarella sharply won the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 20 at Del Mar and had returned to Motion’s base at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. Spendarella was being pointed to the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup next month at Keeneland, but the focus now turns to her 4-year-old campaign, Motion said.

“Had I kept her going, we only would have run probably in the QE II and that would have been it for the year,” Motion said in a text message.

Spendarella has won four of her five starts, including two other graded stakes, and took her only loss when finishing a creditable second to top European 3-year-old filly Inspiral in the Coronation Cup at Royal Ascot in June.

Spendarella is by Karakontie and out of Spanish Bunny, by Unusual Heat. She was bred by her owner, Gainesway Thoroughbreds.

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