Blue Prize Makes it Three in a Row in Spinster

Trainer Ignacio Correas warned jockey Joe Bravo that in order to get the best out of Blue Prize in their time together at Keeneland Oct. 7, it would help if the 5-year-old daughter of Pure Prize had something to incite her work ethic.

The Argentine-bred mare thrives the more she is pushed, racing exclusively in stakes company since August 2017 while finishing worse than third just once. Her talent has threatened top-level company in this country since her arrival last summer, but if she had a chink to her, it was her tendency to want to make life more challenging if she gained her advantages too easily.

Coming off the turn of the $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1), Blue Prize surged to the front and was striding away in a manner that was threatening to turn the 1 1/8-mile test into a clear exhibition. That's when Bravo said his equine partner decided to inject some drama into her situation, ducking out erratically into the center of the track and giving all those waiting to celebrate her first grade 1 win in North America a taste of what cardiac arrest feels like.

"She was lonely," Bravo said of his adventure-filled ride in the stretch. "She got out there, she had tons of horse, and Ignacio warned me before the race, 'Make sure to keep her attention.' He never told me this would happen. But she knew what she was doing."

Try as she might, Blue Prize couldn't get in her own way enough Sunday to halt what has been a near textbook march of progression this year. Despite ducking out repeatedly in the final eighth of a mile, the chestnut mare got herself together enough to prevail in the Spinster Stakes by three-quarters of a length over a fast-closing Champagne Problems.

"I told (Bravo) to be careful because once she gets on the lead and we have a long way to go, she might get bored," said a relieved and jubilant Correas. "I mean it caught me by surprise, too. Thank God, it was a happy ending, everything finished well."

Harnessing Blue Prize's love of a good fight has more often than not yielded thrilling returns for Correas and owner Merriebelle Stable.

A group 1 winner in her native Argentina, Blue Prize made her United States debut in June 2017, finishing second in a 1 1/16-mile allowance test at Churchill Downs. She has been a consistent force in the distaff ranks since, winning the Falls City Handicap (G2) in November for her first graded victory on this soil—an effort that came just weeks after running third in last year's edition of the Spinster.

After beginning her 2018 campaign with an uncharacteristic seventh-place finish in the March 17 Azeri Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park, she rattled off wins in four of her past five outings and came into the Spinster off back-to-back scores in the Fleur de Lis Handicap (G2) and Locust Grove Stakes (G3). Her Spinster victory not only marked her first top-level win in this country but also the first U.S grade 1 score for her fellow Argentine-bred conditioner.

"It's very special. She's a very special horse," Correas said. "The people who gave the filly to me … they trusted me with this filly who was a very expensive filly in my country. And at the time they gave me this filly, I don't know if everyone would trust a trainer that had like 25-30 horses at the time. I have to be very thankful and very grateful to Merriebelle that they give the opportunity of training her."

The more distance Blue Prize is given to work with, the better she often runs. But Correas did not want to see his charge break from her outside post 11 and end up in the middle of the track around the first turn.

Bravo was skillfully able to get his mount in good striking position in the early going, rating her in the clear path in sixth as pacesetter Southernperfection went the opening quarter-mile in :23.79. The 9-2 betting choice lost a couple positions as the half-mile went up in :47.62 but began eating up ground by the strideful as she advanced three wide past Talk Veuve to Me off the far turn and opened up by two lengths in the lane.

"I was feeling good after the first turn. That's when I started feeling good because we didn't go very wide," Correas said. "Joe, I don't know how he did it. I knew he had done everything that was possible. Then it was up to her and up to the other ones. The other ones can run, too."

Nerves were then frayed in the Blue Prize camp as she went on a wild tour of the Keeneland stretch, allowing Champagne Problems to threaten along the rail with Pacific Wind coming right with her. With Bravo switching from a left-handed whip to right-handed urging, Blue Prize regained her lead en route to hitting the wire in 1:50.02 over a track rated fast.

"She got up there and waited like, 'Where is everybody else?'" Bravo said. "I got into her left-handed a few times. I don't know if it was the stick that caused it. She kind of went in before I used the stick. I think she was waiting on competition. Wow, she's talented."

Pacific Wind was 1 1/2 lengths behind Champagne Problems in third, with Fuhriously Kissed and Chocolate Martini completing the top five in the 11-horse field. Favorite and grade 1 winner Eskimo Kisses trailed her foes down the backstretch as is her usual style but never got on track during a seventh-place run.

"I'm not sure the way this track played today suited her," said Ken McPeek, trainer of Eskimo Kisses. "It was just a little harder, and I don't know that she wants that. She wants something more that she can plow through. We'll regroup and see how she came out of it. Hopefully, she's good enough to dance the next one."

The Spinster was a "Win and You're In" race for the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). Though Blue Prize is not Breeders' Cup nominated, Correas didn't hesitate when asked whether she would be supplemented into the field for Nov. 3.

"She needs to pay a little bit, but she's earned it," he grinned.

Bred by Bioart S. A. out of the Not For Sale mare Blues for Sale, Blue Prize improved her record to seven wins from 16 starts, with $964,753 in earnings.

Video: Juddmonte Spinster S. (G1)