Valiance takes big step with Spinster Stakes victory

LEXINGTON, Ky. - “We’ve just been waiting and waiting and waiting to swing for the fences with her," Aron Wellman of co-owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners said of regally bred Valiance.

Valiance got her chance to step up to the plate on Sunday - and belted a home run. In her first start in a Grade 1 race, the filly outgamed Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil in the stretch, then held off another Grade 1 winner in Ollie's Candy for a victory in the $400,000 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland.

With the win she earned an automatic berth into the Breeders' Cup Distaff on Nov. 7 at Keeneland, putting herself in play in a division that is in flux, with Shedaresthedevil now uncertain to move on to the Breeders’ Cup after her loss.

“Just blown away," said Wellman, whose Eclipse co-owns Valiance with Martin Schwartz and her breeder, China Horse Club. "It’s been such an emotional year dealing with the craziest times that the world has seen. We’re just so honored to win a race like this with such a regally bred filly.”

Valiance, who has now won 6 of 8 career starts, is by leading sire Tapit and out of Last Full Measure, who won the Grade 1 Madison Stakes on Keeneland's former synthetic track in 2013. The filly, a $650,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling purchase, was unraced as a juvenile, then won the first three starts of her career in 2019, all on turf, for trainer Todd Pletcher. That included a victory in the Open Mind Stakes at Monmouth.

Valiance then went to the sidelines, returning nearly 11 months later with a fourth-place finish in the off-the-turf Powder Break Stakes at Gulfstream, followed by a sixth in the Grade 2 New York Stakes on the Belmont turf. She got back in the win column with a victory at Colonial Downs, then won the off-the-turf Eatontown Stakes on Aug. 29 at Monmouth by 1 1/2 lengths, prompting her connections to swing for a big prize.

"It seemed like she had simply been training better on dirt that she ever did previously," Pletcher said. "When she won her first three starts on the turf, it was logical to keep her on there. But she didn’t fire her 'A' race in New York, and kind of had a confidence builder [at Colonial]. When the Eatontown came off the turf at Monmouth ... it was very impressive the way she did that that day. The margin doesn’t do justice to how easily she won that day.

"That’s when we started thinking about taking a shot in a big one."

Shedaresthedevil, sent away as the favorite in her first try against older horses, was tracked intently by Lady Kate through honest opening splits of 23.62 seconds for the quarter and 46.97 for the half. Valiance, who raced in the clear throughout under Luis Saez, was sitting in fourth as the field approached the far turn. Ollie's Candy, who broke from post 2 in the small field of six, was racing on the inside.

Shedaresthedevil disposed of a tiring Lady Kate coming into the lane, but was quickly confronted. The Oaks winner dug in, but Valiance ($14.80) had the momentum in the three path and edged by her nearing the final furlong. Ollie's Candy shifted out to make a rally and ground into the leader's margin in the final yards, but Valiance held sway. She stopped the clock in 1:49.76 for the 1 1/16 miles on a track still officially rated fast after some brief scattered showers in the afternoon.

After the top two, it was 2 1/2 lengths to Shedaresthedevil in third, with Lady Kate another 5 3/4 lengths back in fourth. Saracosa and Our Super Freak rounded out the order of finish.

“She went too fast, too early," trainer Brad Cox said of Shedaresthedevil. "She never got a breather. It was a lot to ask, bringing her back in four weeks, and she is a 3-year-old against older fillies and mares for the first time. Now the Breeders' Cup is a big, big question mark.”

Meanwhile, Pletcher said Valiance would return to Belmont early this week to prepare for the Breeders' Cup there.