Spinster Stakes

Spinster Stakes
Grade I race
LocationKeeneland Race Course
Lexington, Kentucky, United States
Inaugurated1956
Race typeThoroughbredFlat racing
WebsiteKeeneland
Race information
Distance1+18 miles (9 Furlongs)
SurfaceDirt
TrackLeft-handed
QualificationThree-year-olds & up, fillies & mares
WeightWeight-for-age
Purse$600,000

The Spinster Stakes (also known as the "Juddmonte Spinster" with Juddmonte Farms sponsorship) is an American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares aged three or up run annually in early October at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky. It is set at a distance of one and one-eighth miles and is a Grade I event with a current purse of $600,000.

The Spinster, sponsored by Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms beginning in 2005, is a major prep for the Breeders' Cup Distaff and one of the most important weight-for-age stakes races exclusively for fillies and mares. Now part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series, the winner of the Spinster Stakes automatically qualifies for the Breeders' Cup Distaff.[1]

In time for the 2006 edition of the Spinster Stakes, Keeneland replaced its traditional dirt track with the synthetic surface, Polytrack synthetic dirt. In 2014, the Polytrack was replaced by a new dirt surface.[2]

  1. ^ "Breeders' Cup Challenge". Archived from the original on 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  2. ^ "Keeneland Debuts New Dirt Surface on Main Race Track". www.keeneland.com. Retrieved 15 June 2016.