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Summer Starlet Romps Home In Spinaway, Earns Breeders' Cup Bid
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- Summer Starlet Romps Home In Spinaway, Earns Breeders' Cup Bid
Summer Starlet Romps Home In Spinaway, Earns Breeders' Cup Bid
Impressive debut maiden winner Summer Starlet turned heads once again when pouncing from just off the pace to draw clear to a 4 3/4-length victory in Saturday's $300,000 Spinaway (G1), a seven-furlong sprint for 2-year-old fillies at Saratoga Race Course.
In victory, Summer Starlet earned a "Win and You're In" berth into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) October 30 at Keeneland.
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Trained by Steve Asmussen for owners BC Stables, Wattswood Stables, Bob Albritton, Jay Graham, and David Baggett, the daughter of City of Light was 15-1 in her August 8 maiden sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs here, but powered home with authority to romp by 6 1/2-lengths under Jose Ortiz. Bettors would not receive such a savory price in the Spinaway, where Summer Starlet was sent away from post 2 under Ricardo Santana Jr. as the 8-5 mutuel favorite.
"Ricardo gave her a beautiful trip," Asmussen said. "Obviously, her debut race showed a tremendous amount of ability. She's done extremely well since. She was away from there great and she was in hand in a very comfortable position for him. And it went perfectly."
Summer Starlet broke alertly and the Paco Lopez-piloted Harper's Corner – winner of the Schuylerville (L) in July at Saratoga – sprinted up between rivals to take command exiting the chute and marked the opening quarter-mile in :22.35 over the fast footing with Angel of Kirk tracking in second.
Summer Starlet raced in a shared third to the inside of Life Changing heading into the turn, and was well-positioned when Life Changing began to retreat and Angel of Kirk advanced to challenge the pacesetter through the half-mile in :44.96.
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Santana angled his charge around the top pair and had her in the clear at the head of the lane as he shook the reins and asked her for her best. Summer Starlet responded with aplomb, sweeping past a tiring Angel of Kirk and overtaking the resolute Harper's Corner at the eighth pole to draw away handily and complete the course in 1:22.72.
Harper's Corner was a game second 7 1/4 lengths ahead of Angel of Kirk with the late-running Stress Relief rounding out the superfecta. Bandmaster, Girvy Girl and Life Changing completed the order of finish. Cha Cha Baby was scratched.
The Spinaway was the first time Santana rode Summer Starlet in the afternoon, but the veteran rider had kept a close eye on her after working in company with her atop another Asmussen trainee throughout the summer.
"The only thing I can say is I was being a good passenger," said Santana, who swept Saturday's stakes at the Spa after winning the Grade 3 With Anticipation with Liam's Law in Race 2. "I worked with that filly before, two times from the gate. Steve has got confidence in the filly. He gave me the opportunity to ride, and she was so classy today. She [broke] sharp, I [didn't] get panicked, I [sat] behind the speed, and she was much the best today."
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Asmussen said Summer Starlet has lived up to the promise she has shown since Day One, and could be pointed to the Grade 1 Alcibiades on October 2 at Keeneland as a prep for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.
"With the Breeders' Cup being right at Keeneland that [the Alcibiades] would be the choice," said Asmussen, who won his third race on the card. "In a perfect world, of course. I'm assuming a lot of things, but yes.
"She came in from Bryan Rice's place very highly touted and never disappointed," he continued. "You can tell she's a big, tall, slender filly, so we waited on her and she got the one run in. Nice spacing back to this, and obviously we are hoping to come out of it in good shape and proceed to the Breeders' Cup."
Cal Lynch, trainer of the hard-trying runner-up Harper's Corner, said the daughter of Speaker's Corner tired late after being pressured by the Manny Franco-piloted Angel of Kirk.
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"She ran great. I was delighted – just ran into a better filly today, no excuse," Lynch said. "The second quarter – when [Manny] pressed us – we went :22 and :44 and change and that second quarter kind of got us. I think that set it up for the other filly [Summer Starlet]; the other filly is a lovely filly."
Bred in Kentucky by Newstead Corp., Summer Starlet was a $335,000 purchase at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of the winning Street Sense mare Act Now, who also produced dual stakes-placed Dr Oseran. She remained a perfect 2-for-2 while banking $165,000 in victory and returning $5.24 on a $2 win ticket.
This story was originally published by Paulick Report on Sep 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
