Emollient Prepares for Spinster

A nine-length winner of the Central Bank Ashland (G1) at Keeneland in April, Emollient returned to Keeneland Tuesday to prepare for her next race, the $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster (G1) on Sunday. Since her dominating performance here, the stakes has been part of the plan for the 3-year-old Empire Maker filly, who is a homebred racing for Juddmonte Farms. Juddmonte has sponsored the Spinster, a 1 1/8-mile race on Polytrack, since 2005.

“She’s fresh, happy, moving well,” Rodolphe Brisset, assistant to trainer Bill Mott, said about Emollient, who jogged on the main track Wednesday morning.

With Mike Smith aboard for the first time, Emollient won the Central Bank Ashland in her Polytrack debut. That performance came six days after she ran fifth in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) on dirt. She next was sixth in the Black Eyed Susan (G2) on dirt at Pimlico on May 17.

“She showed us she didn’t want any part of the dirt anymore,” Brisset said about that performance.

Emollient shipped to Southern California, where she won the American Oaks (G1) on turf at Betfair Hollywood Park on July 13 for her second Grade 1 victory. She returned Sept. 14 in the Garden City (G1) on turf at Belmont Park, where Brisset said she “didn’t run a bad race. There was too much cut in the grass, and she didn’t care for the ground. We could see she wasn’t comfortable. Mike said she never really picked up the bridle like usual. So now she has a race under her belt.”

On Sunday, Emollient worked five furlongs in 1:01.32 on turf at Belmont.

“I wish we could run her (six) days before like we did in the Ashland,” he said with a laugh.

With a victory on Sunday, Emollient will become the fourth horse to win the Ashland and the Spinster. The others are Doubledogdare (1956), Optimistic Gal (1976) and Take Charge Lady (2002).