Tag: Roger Attfield

Lady Speightspeare Goes From Turf To Main Track To Take Bessarabian At Woodbine

Canada's champion 2-year-old filly of 2020, Lady Speightspeare has been a turf specialist so far in her career, going undefeated over the grass at Woodbine. In the Grade 2 Bessarabian Stakes at the Toronto, Ontario racetrack, the 3-year-old daughter made her transition to the all-weather surface a winning one, taking the second graded stakes of her career by four lengths.

In a field of nine, Lady Speightspeare was away in second, with Our Secret Agent taking the lead in the race's early strides. With jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson in the saddle, Lady Speightspeare transitioned from the rail to the outside of Our Secret Agent as they approached the far turn, pulling even with the leader as they entered the stretch.

In the Woodbine straight, Lady Speightspeare showed an impressive turn-of-foot on the Tapeta, pulling clear by a length at the top of the stretch and then pulling away to win with ease. Our Secret Agent hung on for second and La Libertee was third.

The final time for the seven furlongs was 1:21.03. Find this race's chart here.

Lady Speightspeare paid $12.90, $5.70, and $3.90. Our Secret Agent paid $2.90 and $2.50. La Libertee paid $6.20.

Bred in Kentucky by owner Charles Fipke, Lady Speightspeare is by Speightstown out of the Theatrical (IRE) mare Lady Shakespeare. She is trained by Roger Attfield. With her win in the G2 Bessarabian, the 3-year-old filly has two wins in two starts in 2021 for a perfect lifetime record of four wins in four starts and career earnings of $264,779.

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Lady Speightspeare Remains Perfect in Bessarabian

'TDN Rising Star' Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown) made a successful transition to the Tapeta track Saturday, racing away to a convincing score in the GII Bessarabian S., remaining unbeaten from four starts in the process.

The Fipke homebred, whose prior victories include the GI Natalma S. over the local turf course last season, wired a Sept. 6 turf allowance over 8 1/2 furlongs, but was scratched after becoming fractious in the gate ahead of the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Oct. 16 at Keeneland and was a trainer scratch prior to that track's Oct. 29 GIII Rubicon Valley View S. With plenty of gate schooling in the interim, she was rerouted for her first try against elders here.

A handy second arguing the early pace underneath favored GIII Hendrie S. heroine Our Secret Agent (Secret Circle) through the opening exchanges, Lady Speightspeare was content to chase under a light hold from the two path into the turn once Our Secret Agent got clear. The chestnut, niggled along at the quarter pole, gathered in the pacesetter with consummate ease once heads were turned for home and skipped away powerfully to take it by in slick time. Our Secret Agent held for second ahead of the rallying La Libertee (Constitution) in third.

“I'm pretty relieved to be honest with you,” offered trainer Roger Attfield. “She's very special. When we went to Keeneland, and what happened there in the Queen Elizabeth, was so upsetting because she was so good and I really, really, liked doing that race. It was an important race, a Grade I race. I got her back here and we had lots of options of different places to go.

He continued, “[Jockey] Emma [-Jayne Wilson]'s been great and it all came together. But the race itself, I wasn't really sure how well she'd handle the synthetic. We always thought that she was quite a bit better on the turf, I still think she is. But the main thing was to get this gate thing sorted out and it seemed like we did today.”

Pedigree Notes:

Via the late Jack Werk, Charles Fipke acquired Grade I winner Lady Shirl in foal to Theatrical (Ire) for $485,000 carrying the filly that would become Lady Shakespeare at the 2005 Keeneland November Sale. Winner of the GII New York S. and GIII Bewitch S., Lady Shakespeare is a full-sister to GISW Shakespeare; and a half to SW/MGSP Fantastic Shirl (Fantastic Light) and Perfect Shirl (Perfect Soul {Ire}), upset winner of the 2011 GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf and herself the dam of GSW 'TDN Rising Star' Shirl's Speight (Speightstown) and GSP Speightstown Shirl (Speightstown).

Lady Shakespeare is the dam of the 2-year-old filly Ready Lady (More Than Ready), a debut winner at Woodbine Aug. 28, but down the field in the GI Natalma S. Sept. 19; a yearling full-brother to Ready Lady and a weanling filly by Bee Jersey. She was most recently bred to Fipke's GI Clark H. hero Seeking the Soul (Perfect Soul {Ire}).

Saturday, Woodbine
BESSARABIAN S.-GII, C$175,350, Woodbine, 11-13, 3yo/up, f/m, 7f (AWT), 1:21.03, ft.
1–LADY SPEIGHTSPEARE, 119, f, 3, by Speightstown
               1st Dam: Lady Shakespeare (MGSW-USA, SW-Can, $495,608), by Theatrical (Ire)
               2nd Dam: Lady Shirl, by That's a Nice
               3rd Dam: Canonization, by Native Heritage
O/B-Charles E. Fipke (KY); T-Roger L. Attfield; J-Emma-Jayne
Wilson. C$105,000. 'TDN Rising Star' Lifetime Record: Ch.
2yo filly-Can, GISW-Can, 4-4-0-0, $264,779. Werk Nick
Rating: A+++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross
pedigree.
2–Our Secret Agent, 123, f, 4, Secret Circle–Avalos, by Holy
Bull. ($47,000 RNA Ylg '18 FTKOCT). O-Gary Barber; B-Paul
Tackett Revocable Trust (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. C$35,000.
3–La Libertee, 119, f, 3, Constitution–La Rambla, by City Zip.
O/B-Tracy Farmer (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. C$17,500.
Margins: 4, 1, NK. Odds: 5.45, 1.55, 18.80.
Also Ran: Aug Lutes, Gidgetta, Emmeline, Tuned (GB), Juxtapose. Scratched: Spun Glass.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Lady Speightspeare, Gam’s Mission Headline Friday’s Valley View

Charles Fipke's undefeated Lady Speightspeare, scratched at the gate for the Oct. 16 Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Dixiana, headlines an overflow field of 14 3-year-old fillies plus two also-eligibles entered Sunday for Friday's 31st running of the Grade 3 Rubicon Valley View at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

Slated to be run at 1 1/16 miles on the turf, the Rubicon Valley View will go as the ninth race on Friday afternoon's 10-race program with a 5:16 p.m. ET post time. First post Friday is 1 p.m.

Trained by Roger Attfield, Lady Speightspeare has won all three of her starts highlighted by a victory in last year's Grade 1 Natalma at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Emma-Jayne Wilson, who has been aboard for all of Lady Speightspeare's starts, will ride Friday and break from post 11.

The other graded stakes winner in the field is Lazy F Ranch's homebred Gam's Mission.

Trained by Cherie DeVaux, Gam's Mission returns to the races for the first time since finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational in August at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Prior to that, Gam's Mission was fourth in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., after winning the Grade 3 Regret at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Adam Beschizza will have the mount Friday and break from post 14.

Six other grass stakes winners in the field are Godolphin's Adventuring (Dueling Grounds Oaks), BBN Racing's Core Values (Preview Dueling Grounds Derby), Peachtree Stable's Saranya (Curtis Sampson Oaks), G. Watts Humphrey Jr.'s Navratilova (Tepin), EuroLindy Syndicate's Queenship (IRE) (Navigation Stakes in Ireland) and Terry Hamilton, Gary Barber, and trainer Brian Lynch's three-time stakes winner Tobys Heart.

Also entered is Phoenix Thoroughbred III's Crazy Beautiful, a three-time graded stakes winner on dirt who won going a mile on the grass in her racing debut last year at 2 for trainer Kenny McPeek.

The field for the Rubicon Valley View, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Core Values (Rafael Bejarano, 118 pounds), Saranya (Joe Talamo, 118), Crazy Beautiful (Brian Hernandez Jr., 118), Tobys Heart (Joel Rosario, 118), Navratilova (Colby Hernandez, 118), Oliviaofthedesert (Corey Lanerie, 118), Adventuring (Florent Geroux, 118), Breaker of Chains (Tyler Gaffalione, 118), Arm Candy (Ricardo Santana Jr., 118), Oyster Box (James Graham, 118), Lady Speightspeare (Wilson, 118), Queenship (IRE) (Julien Leparoux, 118), Flown (Jose Ortiz, 118), Gam's Mission (Beschizza, 118). Also eligibles: Princess Theorem (Jose Ortiz, 118), Wait for Nairobi (Edgar Morales, 118).

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Unbeaten Lady Speightspeare Ready For ‘Next Step’ In Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup

Had everything gone right, Charles Fipke's homebred Lady Speightspeare would have made her Keeneland debut last fall in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1). It was not to be.

Lady Speightspeare was 2-for-2 in 2020 and had punched her ticket to the Breeders' Cup with a victory in the Natalma (G1) at Woodbine. After being sidelined, she did not return to the races until Sept. 6, when she scored a front-running 2-length victory at Woodbine.

“I was hoping to be here in the spring and at Saratoga in the summer,” trainer Roger Attfield said. “She is fine now and ready to carry on with her life. Hopefully, she will have a nice, long career and this is the next step up.”

The next step up is Saturday's $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) Presented by Dixiana going 1 1/8 miles on the grass, the surface on which Lady Speightspeare has made all of her starts.

Lady Speightsphere arrived at Keeneland from Woodbine Wednesday night and has trained on the main track the past two mornings with a visit to the starting gate being a part of Friday's activity. Ally Walker has been aboard both mornings.

Attfield trained Lady Speightspeare's dam, Lady Shakespeare, who won the Bewitch (G3) here in 2010 for Fipke and was fourth I the 2009 Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup,

“They are similar in a number of ways,” Attfield said of mother and daughter. “They are both very sensible and good to work with and always feeling good.”

Emma-Jayne Wilson, who has been aboard for all of Lady Speightspeare's starts, will be aboard Saturday.

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