Lady Speightspeare was as game as a horse can be in Saturday’s $175,000 Nassau S. (G2) at Woodbine, losing the lead in upper stretch to Our Flash Drive, then retaking it and battling to a dead-heat victory with Crystal Cliffs (FR) in the one-mile turf race.
The 4-year-old filly was one of two graded winners on the day for top-10 General Sire Speightstown, whose streaking colt Olympiad took the Stephen Foster S. (G2) at Churchill Downs.
Lady Speightspeare was off slow but quickly recovered and made the lead in the first furlong. She led through fractions of :23.26 and :45.85 and held her narrow advantage into the stretch, when things changed quickly. Our Flash Drive took over, and Lady Speightspeare looked in dire straits, but she re-broke and forged ahead. In deep stretch, Crystal Cliffs and her were inseparable to the wire for a final time of 1:32.40, less than a second from the track record.
“She’s an interesting filly to train and she was unlucky this winter,” said trainer Roger Attfield of Lady Speightspeare. “I’m very proud of her and she trained well into this race and I’m delighted. (From where I was watching) I didn’t think I got beaten to be honest with you. I didn’t know it was going to be a photo.”
Lady Speightspeare, owned by her breeder Charles Fipke, is now a graded winner at 2, 3 and 4. She has earned $442,837.
