Great Spirit looks to stretch out in Bishop
The Biz- July 29, 2023
Now comes the next test for Great Spirit. The three-year-old Great Notion filly has won four of five starts against state-bred fillies at Charles Town, but all of those have come around one turn. She’ll try two turns tonight for the first time in the $75,000 Sylvia Bishop Memorial Stakes for state-bred sophomore fillies.
A win in the Bishop would significantly expand Great Spirit’s scope of opportunity. Among other races, the most consequential race for state-bred distaff runners, the West Virginia Breeders’ Classics Cavada, is a two-turn, seven-furlong race.
Great Spirit’s big half-brother, Dr. Feelgood, was a one-turn star, posting an unblemished ledger at the 4 ½-furlong distance. Great Spirit has been nearly as good, the only flaw on her resume against fillies coming in a nose defeat to Lightnin Runner in the Its Binn Too Long Stakes in April. That’s a defeat she avenged last out, winning the Fancy Buckles by almost two lengths.
Jose Montano will ride Great Spirit for Crystal Pickett, who trains her for owner-breeder Jill Daniel.
Great Spirit is 9-5 on the morning line. This’ll be no easy spot, though.
Lightnin Runner (3-1) is one of those who figures to challenge her. She was a troubled sixth in the Fancy Buckles, but last time out, going 5 ½ furlongs at Mountaineer, she registered an eye-catching 13-length win while earning a career-best Brisnet speed figure of 89. Overall, she’s won four of six for trainer Angel Rodriguez and owner George Nyren.
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David Cardoso, who has ridden Lightning Runner in three straight, will once again do the honors. The Battalion Runner filly is 3-1 on the morning line.
The Jeff Runco-trained Barbers Point is 5-1 on the morning line. A homebred for Runco’s Coleswood Farm operation, Barbers Point began her career in flashy style, winning three consecutive starts. She ran second last out in allowance company, though, while facing her elders.
Regular pilot Arnaldo Bocachica will do the honors as the Congrats filly tries stakes company for the first time.
Those three horses are the three with the lowest odds in the group, and they also will fill the three interior posts, with Great Spirit in the three and Lightnin Runner on the rail. The rest of the field includes:
- Lucky Blonde (6-1), a winner three times in 13 outings for owner-trainer-breeder Tim Grams;
- Music Lass (6-1), an easy allowance winner last out for trainer Clifford Tuomisto and owner Peter Wainwright. She was second in last year’s West Virginia Futurity;
- Sparkleinyoureye (20-1), a winner once in 10 outings for owner-trainer-breeder Mike Jones, Jr.;
- Keep On Spurrin (15-1), a two-time winner who second in an allowance last out for trainer Kristy Petty and owner Kp Racing Stables LLC; and
- Juba’s Parade (8-1), also a Kristy Petty runner, who arrives off a maiden-breaking score.
The Sylvia Bishop, named for the first licensed African-American female trainer, is carded as the seventh race on an eight-race program.
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