'Chatterbox' Looking to Rebound in Spinster

In a short field of five starters for the $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (gr. I) Oct. 9, three graded stakes winners will try to capitalize on grade I winner I'm a Chatterbox's one-for-three record at Keeneland.



I'm a Chatterbox, a 4-year-old daughter of Munnings   and a Fletcher and Carolyn Gray homebred, is coming into the 1 1/8-mile test for older fillies and mares in good form. She worked a bullet five furlongs in :59 Oct. 4 at Keeneland, clicking along in sharp fractions of :11 4/5, :22 3/5, and :34 1/5. 

A four-time grade stakes winner, I'm a Chatterbox comes into the Spinster off a relatively close fourth-place finish in the grade I Personal Ensign Stakes, where she led through most of the trip only to lose by 1 1/4 lengths to winner Cavorting, Curalina, and Forever Unbridled. Prior to the Personal Ensign, she took consecutive wins in the Obeah Handicap and the Delaware Handicap (gr. I), both at Delaware Park.

Trainer Larry Jones said I'm a Chatterbox improved with every race this year but has lost the last two starts she's made at Keeneland. She finished eighth in the 2015 Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I) and came in second in the grade III Doubledogdare Stakes last April.

"I'm so dang hardheaded," Jones said after I'm a Chatterbox's most recent work. "I've gotta be able to pull this off."

Looking to score the upset will be grade II winner Paid Up Subscriber, who finished second in the Delaware Handicap; grade III winner Genre, who finished second in the Obeah; and grade III winner Engaginglee, who came in second in the grade I La Troienne.

Everett Dobson's Cheyenne Stables owns Genre, who has won four races and placed second twice out of six starts this year. The bay filly by Bernardini   won her first stakes July 31 in the grade III Molly Pitcher and followed up with a victory in the Lady Jacqueline Stakes at ThistleDown.

Genre is trained by Todd Pletcher and will be ridden by Javier Castellano. The filly, bred in Kentucky by Bill Graves and Gainesway, last worked Oct. 1 at Saratoga Race Course, going four furlongs in :48.88, the fifth-best time out of 39 at the distance.

Paul Lichtefeld and Jack Stewart's Engaginglee, a 5-year-old daughter of Fusaichi Pegasus  , has won twice and finished in the money three times out of seven starts this year. She finished second to Curalina in the La Troinenne and comes into the Spinster off a win in the Locust Grove Stakes (gr. III). She is trained by Dale Romans and will be ridden by Luis Saez, who was aboard for the Locust Grove.

Paid Up Subscriber, by Candy Ride   and owned by Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence, also gained graded stakes status this year with a three-length win in the Fleur de Lis Handicap (gr. II) at Churchill Downs. After the Delaware Handicap, she finished fifth in the Personal Ensign. She will be ridden by hot New York jockey Jose Ortiz and is trained by Al Stall Jr.