Wide Open Spinster Attracts Eleven

With horses shipping in from all over the country and having run some of their best races on all types of surfaces, the $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster (gr. I) is a wide-open affair. A field of 11 was drawn for the nine-furlong Polytrack event Oct. 10 at Keeneland, with the winner receiving an automatic bid in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic (gr. I) next month.

Likely to vie for favoritism are grade I winners Hot Cha Cha and Funny Moon, Rinterval, who lost by a neck to Zenyatta last out, Tizaqueena, and the only 3-year-old in the race, It's Tea Time. But a case can be made for almost every filly or mare in the field.

Nelson McMakin’s homebred Hot Cha Cha scored her biggest career win at Keeneland but it came on the turf course, as she romped in last year’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (gr. IT) at 8-1. The 4-year-old daughter of Cactus Ridge also has two other graded scores on the turf, but she has proved herself on Polytrack too. In March 2009, she won the Bourbonette Oaks (gr. III) at Turfway Park.