Eskimo Kisses Aims to Build on Momentum in Spinster

Eskimo Kisses kept showing up.

She kept putting her big chestnut self in the mix, keeping herself right there against the top sophomore fillies this season but never quite finding a way to beat them all back at the same time. In a division that has proven to be among the deepest this season, the daughter of To Honor and Serve seemed stuck in her spot.

That all changed on the afternoon of Aug. 18. After getting the added ground and pace setup she needed, she was able to spring the upset in the Alabama Stakes (G1), galloping away to a 6 1/2-length win at Saratoga Race Course. And with some of the heavy hitters in the distaff ranks taking some recent losses, the Ken McPeek trainee comes into the Oct. 7 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland with a chance to bolster her momentum heading into the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Churchill Downs next month.

Having knocked off an Alabama field that included multiple grade 1 winner Midnight Bisou as well as graded stakes winners Talk Veuve to Me and She's a Julie, Eskimo Kisses will face older girls for the first time as part of a field of 11 entered for the $500,000 Spinster going 1 1/8 miles over the main track.

With champion Abel Tasman suffering one of the worst losses of her career last weekend, grade 1 winner Elate sidelined, and divisional standouts Monomoy Girl and Midnight Bisou having to throw all they had at one another during their latest meeting in the Cotillion Stakes (G1), Eskimo Kisses couldn't pick a better time to round into her best form. She has been one of the most active members of any class with eight starts already this season. After finishing fourth in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1)—her sixth start of the year—McPeek gave her a mini-break before bringing her back in the July 22 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1).

She was no threat to Monomoy Girl and Midnight Bisou while finishing fourth that day, but her Alabama outing proved a decided step forward. After rating last through fractions of :22.52 and :46.79, Eskimo Kisses came with a rally under Jose Ortiz that was only halted by the 10-furlong distance of the race.

"She got five weeks off after the Oaks," McPeek said "She had run hard and shipped and traveled a bit during the winter, and I think her race in the Oaks was a good race, but she just needed a little rest. We turned her out at my farm and she packed on a bunch of weight, she filled out a bunch, and she just went the right direction doing that.

"One of the things about our stable is we've got the freedom to do that and let them have some R&R for a little bit. She really filled out a lot, and she just came back bigger and stronger."

McPeek, who won the Spinster with Take Charge Lady in 2002 and 2003, pointed to both the Alabama's 1 1/4 miles and the deep nature of Saratoga's main track as factors that helped propel Eskimo Kisses to her best run last time out. He would prefer Sunday's 1 1/8-mile test be over more ground but is nonetheless encouraged by the effort his filly put in when finishing a clear second to Monomoy Girl over the Keeneland surface during the April 7 Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1).

"I would love for the division to fall in her favor, but I still think she needs the added distance and needs a certain setup," said McPeek, whose Magdalena Racing co-owns Eskimo Kisses along with breeder Gainesway Stable, Harold Lerner, Andrew Rosen, and Nehoc Stables. "One thing that worries me about Keeneland is this track plays certainly a lot faster than Saratoga. I think she's a filly who is big and likes a little heavier course. Is this racetrack going to work against her? It might, it might not. I wish it was a little further, but she has run well here before. It's time to go again."

Eskimo Kisses is one of five sophomore fillies in the Spinster field. Fellow 3-year-old Chocolate Martini, winner of the Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks (G2), comes in off a fifth-place run in the Cotillion Stakes. Grade 3 winner Talk Veuve to Me most recently faded to fourth in the Alabama after setting the early fractions.

"She has done very well since the Alabama, and the six weeks' timing between races is very good," said Rodolphe Brisset, trainer and part owner of Talk Veuve to Me. "We did not get the setup we wanted in the Alabama. I still think she is a two-turn filly, and now she is back on her own track."

Multiple graded stakes winner Blue Prize was third in the Spinster last year in a race run over a sloppy track. The 5-year-old daughter of Pure Prize has only finished outside the top two twice in her 15 starts and enters off back-to-back victories in the June 16 Fleur de Lis Handicap (G2) and Sept. 15 Locust Grove Stakes (G3), both at Churchill.

"It was not that hard a race; it was just the last quarter of a mile that she ran hard,"  trainer Ignacio Correas said of Blue Prize's nose win in the Locust Grove. "It set her up good for this race."

Entries: Juddmonte Spinster S. (G1)

Keeneland, Sunday, October 07, 2018, Race 9

• Grade I
• 1 1/8m
• Dirt
• $500,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 5:45 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Tiger Moth (KY)	Florent Geroux	124	Brad H. Cox	30/1
2	2Chocolate Martini (KY)	Corey J. Lanerie	121	Thomas M. Amoss	12/1
3	3Fuhriously Kissed (KY)	Jose A. Bracho	124	Anthony T. Quartarolo	20/1
4	4Eskimo Kisses (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	121	Kenneth G. McPeek	5/2
5	5Southernperfection (KY)	Albin Jimenez	124	Anthony T. Quartarolo	50/1
6	6Sassy Sienna (KY)	Shaun Bridgmohan	121	Brad H. Cox	12/1
7	7Talk Veuve to Me (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	121	Rodolphe Brisset	7/2
8	8Champagne Problems (KY)	Calvin H. Borel	124	Ian R. Wilkes	8/1
9	9Skeptic (KY)	Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.	121	George R. Arnold, II	15/1
10	10Pacific Wind (KY)	Luis Saez	124	Chad C. Brown	5/1
11	11Blue Prize (ARG)	Joe Bravo	124	Ignacio Correas, IV	7/2