Velazquez guides Speed Shopper from outside post to take Bewitch
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – Speed Shopper was sent away favored by the closing-day crowd at Keeneland, and the shoppers proved right, as the mare continued an upward ascent with a 1 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3, $350,000 Bewitch Stakes for fillies and mares routing on the turf, the feature on the last day of the spring meet.
Speed Shopper ($5.42) and John Velazquez raced a comfortable fifth of nine in the early stages of the 1 1/2-mile Bewitch, with Velazquez able to settle the mare behind horses despite his concerns over breaking from the outside post in the field of nine.
“I was really worried because the last two times I rode her she was really keen behind the horses, and I covered up and she kind of comes back to me,” Velazquez said. “I was telling the guys in the paddock, I was a little worried about being all the way out there. I tell you what, it was the best this time. She broke, my hands went down, her ears went up. She wasn’t even in the bridle, so I was able to come in behind horses little by little. By the time we were going the first time by the wire … I was really comfortable where I was.”
Meanwhile, up front, a less comfortable scenario was ensuing for Flavien Prat aboard Virgin Colada. The filly pulled her way to a clear early lead, and continued to be hard to hold through the opening half in 49.10 on the firm course. She began getting out around the second of three turns as Prat tried to ration her speed, and bolted near the six-furlong mark into the backstretch. Prat eased her, and she was walked off the course.
Triumphant Spirit, who was unbothered behind Virgin Colada, assumed the lead, with Way to Be Marie turning the pressure up into the final turn, through the mile in 1:49.83. Velazquez tipped Speed Shopper out and she readily moved into the bridle, edging a half-length clear of Way to Be Marie into the stretch and continuing on strongly to her final margin at the wire.
The time for the 1 1/2 miles was 2:29.
Longshot Golden Sunshine, last of eight after the opening half-mile, poured it on late to be second, a clear best of the rest by 3 1/4 lengths over Way to Be Marie.
Speed Shopper, a 5-year-old daughter of Quality Road, is trained by Will Walden for Gary Barber, Bridlewood Farm, and Eclipse Thoroughbreds. She has taken time to come to hand, as she debuted in late 2023 and made just one start in early 2024. Once she settled into a pattern last year, she began to rise. She broke her maiden in her fifth career start, in July 2025 at Saratoga, and two starts later, finished second, beaten just a head, in the Grade 2 Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita.
She has proceeded to win the Florence Stakes at Turfway; win the Grade 3 Christophe Clement at Gulfstream; finish third, beaten less than a length, in the Grade 3 Orchid at Gulfstream; and now, post the win in the Bewitch.
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