Pampered Princess wins Juddmonte Spinster Stakes

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A year after registering a major upset at Keeneland with Stay Forever in the 2004 WinStar Galaxy Stakes, Florida-based trainer Marty Wolfson and jockey Eddie Castro scored another rich Keeneland stakes victory - this time with Pampered Princess in Sunday's $500,000, Grade 1 .

As with Stay Forever, Pampered Princess was given little mutuel respect, paying $17.80 as the fifth choice in the field of 11. She ran like even money shot, however. After pressing Tamweel through fractions of 24.09 seconds, 49.11, and 1:14.46 in the 1 1/8-mile Spinster, she responded to a rousing ride from Castro to score a 1.75-length victory.

The win did not come easily. Pampered Princess seemed a beaten mare in early stretch, when Capeside Lady, who pressed the pace in third for much of the early running, moved briefed past the winner. But the latter weakened when called upon by jockey Chris DeCarlo, fading to third, a nose behind Pleasant Home, a late-rallying runner-up.

In winning her first graded stakes race, Pampered Princess raced 1 1/8 miles in 1:53.91 on a fast but highly tiring racetrack. It was the slowest Spinster in 50 runnings by a margin of over two seconds.

Isola Piu Bella, the 2-1 favorite, ran sixth.

Pampered Princess, a 5-year-old daughter of Indian Charlie, improved her record to 13 wins, seven seconds, and five thirds in 31 starts. The $310,000 winner?s share of the purse vaulted her earnings to $718,385 for owner Martin Cherry.

Cherry called the win one of the greatest of his 12 years of owning horses. "To have it happen at such a great venue as Keeneland makes it special," he said.