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Tiz Miz Sue chases first Grade 1 win in Spinster
by BRIS
Date Posted: 10/4/2012 4:50:09 PM
Last Updated: 10/6/2012 9:28:04 PM
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Tiz Miz Sue has been keeping company this summer with the top fillies on the
East Coast, but when she arrived at Keeneland Wednesday morning for Sunday's
Grade 1, $500,000
Spinster after vanning from Monmouth Park, there was no Royal Delta or Love
and Pride in sight.
"She has always been matched up tough, so I guess that has been kind of mean
of me," trainer Steve Hobby laughed after bringing Tiz Miz Sue back to Barn 22
following a one-mile jog early Thursday morning.
"When she was two, the horse that beat her in the (Grade 3)
Arlington-Washington Lassie (She Be Wild) won the Breeders' Cup (Juvenile
Fillies) and last year, she ran against (Horse of the Year) Havre de Grace."
In her most recent start, Tiz Miz Sue finished fourth behind Love and Pride
and champion Royal Delta, beaten only two lengths, in the Grade 1 Personal
Ensign at Saratoga. Prior to that, the five-year-old daughter of Tiznow was
beaten just a neck by Royal Delta in the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks and was second to
Love and Pride in the Grade 3 Obeah.
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Hobby bypassed last Saturday's Grade 1 Beldame at Belmont Park to take a shot
in Sunday's 57th running of the Spinster going 1 1/8 miles on the Polytrack.
"I am kind of glad I didn't run in the Beldame with the way Royal Delta ran,"
Hobby said, referring to that filly's 9 1/2-length victory. "And then Love and
Pride won that race at Santa Anita (the Grade 1 Zenyatta by 3 1/4 lengths) and
that validated her form."
The Spinster will mark a return to Polytrack for Tiz Miz Sue, who posted a
victory and two seconds in three starts over the surface as a juvenile at
Arlington Park in 2009.
"Today was the first day she had been on Polytrack since Arlington," Hobby
said. "That was part of the reason in running here because I knew she would
handle it. I don't know if I would have run her here had she not run on it
before."
Tiz Miz Sue, who has compiled a record of 27-6-9-3 for earnings of $674,709
for owner-breeder Carol Ricks of Cresran LLC, has lived up to her potential for
Hobby.
"She was impressive from the beginning and I thought she was special," Hobby
said of the mare, who will be ridden Sunday by Joe Rocco Jr.
Tiz Miz Sue will face 12 rivals in the Spinster, including defending champion
Aruna, who is seeking to become the fourth horse to win back-to-back runnings of
the race.
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Trained by Graham Motion, Aruna won the 2011 Spinster under Ramon Dominguez,
who will be back in the irons Sunday as Aruna tries to join Take Charge Lady
(2002-03), Bayakoa (1989-90) and Bornastar (1957-58) as a winner of consecutive
runnings of the Spinster.
The Mr. Greeley mare will have to rebound off a last-place run in the Grade 1
Beverly D., where she stumbled at the break and clipped heels while competing on
the grass. Her two starts prior to that one resulted in a second in the New York
Stakes and a win in the Sheepshead Bay, both Grade 2 contests at Belmont Park.
In addition to Aruna, two other Grade 1 winners are among the talent-laden
cast for the Spinster -- Summer Soiree and Karlovy Vary.
Summer Soiree, cross-entered to Saturday's Grade 1 First Lady, won the Grade
1 Del Mar Oaks last year before closing out her sophomore campaign two races
later with a runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Matriarch. The Motion-trained
daughter of War Front has competed just once this season, filling the third spot
in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa at Saratoga in late August, and will be ridden by
Gabriel Saez for this one.
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Karlovy Vary earned a berth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks starting gate after
taking the Grade 1 Ashland over Keeneland's Polytrack this spring, but proved
her dislike for a conventional dirt track when 12th in that race. Trained by
Rusty Arnold, the Dynaformer sophomore ran third in the Nani Rose two back in
her only other black-type credit and will have Corey Lanerie aboard for the
Spinster.
Twelve of the 13 Spinster runners are graded winners, including Grade 2
queens Disposablepleasure, Juanita, In Lingerie and Mystical Star. The former is
looking for her first win since taking the Grade 2 Demoiselle as a juvenile in
2011, while Juanita holds a more recent victory in the Grade 2 La Troienne at
Churchill Downs on May 4. In Lingerie returns in this spot from a runner-up
effort in the Grade 1 Alabama on August 18 at Saratoga, and Mystical Star has
them all beat with a front-running score in the New York Stakes over Aruna on
June 30.
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Multiple Grade 3 veteran Upperline has a shot at Grade 1 glory as well off a
close fifth in the Beverly D. The Maria's Mon mare was a four-length winner of
the Grade 3 Arlington Matron on the Polytrack at that Chicago venue in late May
and keeps regular rider James Graham in the saddle.
One race before the Spinster, an oversubscribed field of 14 turf juveniles
was entered for the 22nd running of the Grade 3, $150,000
Bourbon
at 1 1/16 miles on the Keeneland green.
Balance the Books, winner of Saratoga's Grade 2 With Anticipation in his most
recent start, tops the group but is one of three in the race who is also
cross-entered to Saturday's Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity. The other two are Johar,
just a head back of Balance the Books in the With Anticipation, and Craving
Carats, eighth in that same race.
The main body of the field includes Ruler of Love, a three-length victor of
the Kentucky Downs Juvenile last month, and Brown Almighty, hero of the Sunny's
Halo before a neck second in the Sunday Silence, both at Louisiana Downs.
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