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.
Keeneland, Sunday, October 18, 2026, Race 7Entries: Rood & Riddle Dowager S. (G3T)
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
