Fully Subscribed takes three-horse Spinster in BC Distaff preview
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Grade 1 Spinster Stakes on Sunday at Keeneland was all but over before it was run.
Five horses were entered, but Regaled scratched early and won the Delaware Handicap on Saturday, and Snowyte also came out of the race. That left Immersive, whose glory days came two years ago, when she was champion 2-year-old filly; the 3-year-old Counting Stars, who won two Grade 1s in June and July but appeared to be tailing off as a soundly defeated odds-on favorite in the Alabama Stakes; and Fully Subscribed.
Four-year-old Fully Subscribed came to Keeneland from Chad Brown’s stable in New York looking like a fully formed filly. A good horse at age 3, better early this year, Fully Subscribed on Aug. 29 waxed five foes in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign, winning by almost 10 lengths while earning a 106 Beyer Speed Figure, easily a career best.
In retrospect, one might wonder how she went off at odds of 1-2 rather than 1-5 Sunday.
Looking like a winner from the start, Fully Subscribed tracked pacesetting Immersive, responded immediately when jockey Flavien Prat asked her to move forward at the three-furlong marker, easily took the lead, and had more than enough to hold off Counting Stars, drifting to the middle of the racecourse while posting a cozy 3 1/4-length victory. Counting Stars had six lengths on Immersive at the finish.
Yes, the Grade 1, $598,000 Spinster is a major race, but this served as a glorified workout for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff here in 27 days.
“It’s a Grade 1, so of course you run to win, but, yeah, after that for sure you don’t want to go too deep,” Prat said.
Fully Subscribed, by Tiz the Law out of Sweet Baby, by Candy Ride, ran 1 1/8 miles over a fast track in 1:50 off splits of 24.19, 48.43, 1:13, and 1:37.56. She paid $3.08 to win. Place, show, and vertical exotic wagering were canceled.
Chad Brown trains Fully Subscribed for Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, and the filly has risen toward the top of her division this season.
Counting Stars, trainer Mark Casse said, will be put away for the winter to prepare for a 4-year-old campaign. Casse still has a Breeders’ Cup Distaff ace in the hole – division leader Nitrogen.
On June 5, Nitrogen won the Ogden Phipps at Saratoga by almost 13 lengths over Fully Subscribed. Brown and Prat were puzzled. Both had expected more of a forward move from Fully Subscribed’s seasonal debut, a second in the Grade 1 La Troienne at Churchill Downs. Since the Phipps, though, Fully Subscribed has found herself, winning the Shuvee before her Personal Ensign breakout.
“I had the chance to ride her last year at the end of her season,” Prat said. That was the Comely Stakes, which Fully Subscribed won by four lengths. Prat’s never given up on the mount. “It took a few races for her to get going this year, but she’s improved every start.”
Nitrogen waltzed to victory Sept. 24 in the Beldame Stakes, her Distaff prep. She might or might not be the same horse she was in the Phipps, but Fully Subscribed definitely is a better one now.
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