Gin Gin stuns Nitrogen to win Spinster; Thorpedo Anna is 4th
Gin Gin set the pace, saved ground along the rail and held on against a late head bob from Nitrogen to deliver an 18-1 upset Sunday in the Grade 1, $650,000 Spinster Stakes for five fillies and mares at Keeneland.
With odds-on favorite Thorpedo Anna (1-2) soundly defeated, it was left to Nitrogen (2-1) to salvage what was expected to be her showdown with the reigning horse of the year. Instead, her late rally was not enough to rein in unlikely late leader Gin Gin, who was ridden by Luis Sáez to the gate-to-wire victory.
Click here for Keeneland entries and results.
“You think they’re going a tick quick, but when she’s out on the lead like that, I knew they weren’t going to get by her without a fight, and that’s all we wanted (Sáez) to do was give her her best chance, and he did,” winning trainer Brendan Walsh said. “Hats off to her. She’s very tough. At the end of the day it’s down to her.”
Gin Gin earned an automatic bid for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, which Thorpedo Anna won last year to seal two Eclipse Awards.
Setting fractions of 23.74, 46.69, 1:10.40 and 1:35.92, Gin Gin was flanked by Thorpedo Anna up the backstretch. When Nitrogen made her wide move under José Ortiz through the second turn, Thorpedo Anna and her substitute rider Flavien Prat retreated.
Scylla (6-1), piloted by Júnior Alvarado, bobbled at the start but also rallied down the stretch. She never could catch up with the eventual top two. Nitrogen drifted outward approaching the finish, and Gin Gin maintained her rail trip, holding on to win by a head.
Gin Gin paid $38.64 and $9.36 after winning with a time of 1:49.77 on the fast main track. Nitrogen returned $4.28 to place.
“She was wide in the first turn, wide in the second turn,” Nitrogen’s trainer Mark Casse said. “But she showed me what I needed to see. I thought we had it. She wants a target, and the pace wasn’t fast enough. If she’s OK, we’re thinking the Breeders’ Cup, but I’ll have to talk to (owners Leonard and Jon Green).”
There was no show betting. Scylla, Thorpedo Anna and Chilled (30-1) finished third through fifth in that order.
A 4-year-old daughter of Hightail, Gin Gin is a Calumet Farm homebred who was transferred from Brad Cox to Walsh in time for a win April 18 in the Doubledogdare (G3) at Keeneland. She since finished second in the Shawnee (G3) and fourth in the Fleur de Lis (G2), both during the Churchill Downs spring meet.
“It’s great, because she was in great order in the spring when she won the Doubledogdare (G3), and we felt she went a little downwards on us after that,” Walsh said. “We brought her up to Saratoga ... and got her back up and right, and when she came back here, I couldn’t believe how well she did, how good she looked and everything. When she’s on song, she’s actually a very, very good filly.”
The loss for Thorpedo Anna reinforced the idea that nothing can be taken for granted, even for a star who has earned more than $5 million.
“She’s taken us on some incredible highs the last two years,” her trainer Kenny McPeek said. “We’ve had an amazing journey with her. Horses are like a wave. You are trying to catch a big wave. Unfortunately, this is not a good day for her. We’re all disappointed. Not even going to think about Breeders’ Cup right now. Uncharacteristic of her.”