Spendarella shows versatility in winning Appalachian Stakes
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Spendarella sped to another impressive stakes win Saturday at Keeneland, capturing the Grade 2, $308,950 Appalachian Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths under Tyler Gaffalione.
Trained by Graham Motion for Antony Beck’s Gainesway Stable, Spendarella debuted with an impressive two-turn turf maiden win at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 2; a month later she set a strong pace on the way to a dominant score in the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride Stakes at Gulfstream.
Spendarella went from leading on fast-playing firm turf in Florida to pressing the pace over a far different sort of course at Keeneland – and still won with aplomb.
“She’s pretty phenomenal,” Motion said. “It was a totally different ballgame today. You have no idea how they’re going to handle that.”
Riding Spendarella for the first time, Tyler Gaffalione saw what everyone else did on paper – that his mount looked like the controlling speed in the Appalachian. Indeed, Spendarella broke alertly and jumped right into the race, leading past the finish line and into the first turn. But down inside her, rail drawn Glenall was pulling hard for her head, and with Spendarella racing off the fence, jockey Julien Leparoux let Glenall rush up and take the lead.
“Off the form, I thought we were going to be in front by ourselves, but Graham actually didn’t mind somebody being in front of her,” said Gaffalione. “They wanted to see if she could relax off another horse and she did that.”
Glenall set splits of 24.50 and 49.11 as Spendarella rated kindly a length behind and just to her outside. Gaffalione let his filly swing into action past the three-furlong marker, had the lead at the five-sixteenths pole, and Spendarella powered off the turn to take command by the three-sixteenths pole. It’s a rare quality for a filly with so much speed to also possess a strong turn of foot. Dolce Zel, the second choice, got a fine stalking trip under Irad Ortiz Jr. and tried to make a run at Spendarella but never really got close.
“She really quickened off the turn and coming into the stretch,” said Gaffalione. “She kind of idled a little bit at the sixteenth pole, but she put it away nicely.”
Dolce Zel had three-quarters of a length on Skims, who finished with interest for third, 2 3/4 lengths in front of Kneesnhips. Then came An Agent Mistake, Glenall, Ouraika, and Trobairitz. Spendarella clocked 1:37.41 for a mile over the “good” going and paid $3.40, getting an 89 Beyer Speed Figure.
Bred in New York by Gainesway, Spendarella is by Karakontie out of Spanish Bunny, by Unusual Heat. She’s a sister to two other turf-route stakes winners, Spanish Loveaffair and Spanish Queen.
Ambitious plans are brewing for Spendarella, with a trip to Royal Ascot for the Coronation Stakes on June 17 under consideration. Motion saddled Miss Temple City to a fourth-place finish in the 2015 Coronation and said he’s eager to return to England.
“It’s a race we’ve run in, and I feel comfortable doing it,” Motion said. “She handles the ground. I know it’s something Antony might want to do, and I’m not going to try and stop him.”