Idiomatic continued her giant year with a decisive victory in Sunday’s Spinster (G1) at Keeneland, cementing her status as the favorite for the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1).
The Juddmonte homebred has been on fire for trainer Brad Cox, rattling off seven victories from eight starts this season. She entered the Spinster off successive triumphs in the Shawnee (G3), Delaware H. (G2), and Personal Ensign (G1), with the latter coming at the expense of last year’s champion three-year-old filly Nest.
“She’s a tremendous talent, very physical, really,” said Cox. “When I was saddling her in the paddock, I was, like, ‘Wow, she’s the biggest horse I’ve ever trained.’ She’s a monster. She has a tremendous stride and covers so much ground. She’s really a freak—I mean, she really is a tremendous talent, and we’re very fortunate to have her.”
The Spinster was billed as a rematch between Idiomatic and Nest, with the latter favored at just under even-money despite her surprising third-place finish in the Personal Ensign. But Nest dropped off the early pace in the Spinster and never really gained traction on her way to fourth place, leaving Idiomatic to dominate.
And dominate she did. Under Florent Geroux, Idiomatic led by a minimum of 1 1/2 lengths at every call of the 1 1/8-mile contest, setting modest fractions of :24.49, :48.31, and 1:12.24 before kicking away in the homestretch to win by 4 1/4 lengths in 1:49.82.
“Actually, it was not easy looking at the race on paper with Nest being in there, a very good filly,” said Geroux, commenting on Idiomatic’s seemingly easy triumph. “But my filly just keeps on improving and we know the distance is not a problem. She just keeps improving, and Brad and his team had her at her prime again today. She’s just getting better and better, and I can’t wait to ride her again.”
Longshots Le Da Vida and Bellamore rounded out the trifecta, followed distantly by Nest, Sixtythreecaliber, and Malloy.
A four-year-old daughter of Curlin out of the multiple Grade 1-placed Lockdown, Idiomatic has banked earnings of $1,416,840. In addition, winning the Spinster awarded Idiomatic a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita in California, an invitation Cox and Juddmonte plan to accept.
“It comes down to, you know, California is speed, she’s got speed, and we’ll see who else signs on,” said Cox. “It’ll be a showdown, I’m sure.”
