Auction-Bound Duo of Fionn, Speed Shopper Leads Dowager

The two morning-line favorites for the Oct. 18 Dowager Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland—Fionn and Speed Shopper—can pad their bankrolls and deliver catalog updates ahead of upcoming auctions with quality performances in the $350,000 race.

George Messina and Michael Lee's Fionn, a grade 1 winner and earner of more than $2 million, is scheduled to be sold Nov. 2 at Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale, while Gary Barber, Bridlewood Farm, and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' dual grade 3 winner Speed Shopper goes in the sales ring at Keeneland a day later during the first session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Both are cataloged as racing and/or broodmare prospects.

Though unplaced in three starts this year, Fionn is favored at 3-1 on the morning line for the Dowager, which drew a full field of 12 fillies and mares to race 1 1/2 miles on turf. Most recently, the 4-year-old Twirling Candy  filly ran a close fifth in the Flower Bowl Stakes (G2T) Oct. 1 at Belmont Park. She is 7-1-1 in 13 career starts, with her most prestigious win coming in the Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T) last year for trainer Brad Cox.

Speed Shopper, the 7-2 second favorite, also benefits from class relief, having been outrun in two grade 1s and a grade 2 over her last three starts. The Will Walden-trained 5-year-old Quality Road  mare returns to a course and distance over which she took the Bewitch Stakes (G3T) in the spring.

Entries: Rood & Riddle Dowager S. (G3T)

Keeneland, Sunday, October 18, 2026, Race 7

• Grade IIIT
• 1 1/2m
• Turf
• $350,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 4:12 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Massarat (KY)	Danny Sheehy	122	Brendan P. Walsh	20/1
2	2Malibu Smart (KY)	Ben Curtis	122	Michael J. Maker	15/1
3	3Sky Low Low (NY)	Declan Cannon	122	Adrianne DeVaux	50/1
4	4Pretty Tapit (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	122	Joe Sharp	9/2
5	5Fionn (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	122	Brad H. Cox	3/1
6	6Snipsnippitysnip (KY)	Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.	122	Brendan P. Walsh	12/1
7	7Poppy the Princess (KY)	Axel Concepcion	122	Troy Newton	50/1
8	8Golden Sunshine (KY)	Luis Saez	122	Eoin G. Harty	10/1
9	9Speed Shopper (KY)	John R. Velazquez	124	William Walden	7/2
10	10Somethinabouther (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	122	Brendan P. Walsh	8/1
11	11Venencia (FR)	Jaime A. Torres	122	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	30/1
12	12Modarosa (PA)	Junior Alvarado	122	Riley Mott	6/1