Moon Spun pulls off Unbridled Sidney upset after Shisospicy fails to fire
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Brian Lynch was pretty confident Moon Spun was going to run her top race in Friday’s Grade 2 Unbridled Sidney Stakes at Churchill Downs. He just wasn’t sure if Moon Spun’s best would be good enough to beat champion Shisospicy.
Shisospicy failed to fire, but Moon Spun sure did, going gate to wire under Javier Castellano to win the $474,000 Unbridled Sidney by three-quarters of a length over late-running Shoot It True. It was another 1 1/2 lengths back to Creed’s Gold in third.
Meanwhile, Shisospicy, the champion female sprinter of 2025, was a non-factor throughout, finishing last as the 3-5 favorite in the field of seven.
Moon Spun, who won two turf sprints at Gulfstream Park during the winter, bounced back from an eighth-place finish in the Captiva Stakes over the Tapeta track at Gulfstream on March 14. Lynch said he didn’t think Moon Spun “was in love” with Gulfstream’s synthetic track breaking from the rail in the Captiva Island and opted to freshen her up, which meant skipping opportunities at Keeneland to point for this spot.
“I think giving her that little bit of a break, she put on good weight and her coat and everything came around,” Lynch said. “Her last work on the dirt I was super impressed with, so she gave us a good feeling. Could she beat Shisospicy? I don’t know. If she didn’t show up, possibly, and she didn’t show up and we beat her.”
Breaking from post 6 in a seven-horse field under Javier Castellano, Moon Spun was able to secure a one-length advantage while running a quarter-mile in 22.13 seconds and a half-mile in 44.60 while being chased by Haulin Ice.
Moon Spun opened up a two-length advantage in midstretch, and though she drifted out some late, she had enough left to hold off a rail-rallying Shoot It True under Joel Rosario.
“I didn’t expect to be on the lead. I had a better position outside, two horses inside of me that got plenty of speed,” said Castellano, referring to Shisospicy and Haulin Ice. “My plan A was let those two horses go and keep track of those horses. As soon as the gates opened, everything changed. My horse broke better than anybody else. I think that was the key to win the race.”
Moon Spun, a 5-year-old daughter of Hard Spun owned by Town and Country Racing, covered the 5 1/2 furlongs on firm turf in 1:01.64 and returned $29.18 as the longest shot in the seven-horse field.
Lynch said that effort was good enough to have him thinking about the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at the end of the year at Keeneland.
“They’re the sort of fillies she’s going to be running against, so I’ll try to map out some sort of a plan to get her there if she continues to show the form she’s showing,” Lynch said.
Lynch scratched his other entrant in the race, Mae Town, due to an issue that showed up earlier in the week. He hopes to have her back to the races later this summer.
Shisospicy won last year’s BC Turf Sprint as part of a 5 for 7 campaign that ended with her winning an Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter. She missed an intended start in Saudi Arabia in February after developing in infection, according to trainer Jose D’Angelo, but he felt she was ready to return in this spot.
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said Shisospicy was a bit washed out and a little bit sharp on the track prior to the race, so he tried to get her to relax by kicking his feet out of the irons while warming up. Shisospicy chased the pace and made a mild run around the turn but never made a real impact.
“At the three-eighths, she got in the clear. I tried to make a run. She made a little run and that was it,” Ortiz said. “Hopefully this race helps her for the next one.”
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