MUSHKA GETS HER GRADE 1

The Spinster was a career score for the durable, reliable Mushka (EMPIRE MAKER). Purchased by Zayat Stables for $1.6 million at the 2006 FTS August sale, she showed early promise in winning Aqueduct’s Gr.2 Demoiselle Stakes at two. She failed to add to her stakes tally as a sophomore, however, and was sent through the Keeneland November sale, where she was purchased by Brushwood Stable for $2.4 million.

Kept busy this season, Mushka (EMPIRE MAKER) had won two of eight entering the Spinster, including an allowance win on Keeneland’s Polytrack in April and, after a seventh in the Gr.1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 1, a last-out victory in the Spa’s Gr.3 Glens Falls Handicap Sept. 7.

Mushka (EMPIRE MAKER) was making just her second start on a synthetic in the Spinster and kept her record clean in an effort that could stamp her ticket to the Gr.1 Breeders Cup Ladies’ Classic Nov. 6. "I’ve gotta be thinking that way, for sure," said winning trainer Bill Mott.

Date: 12 October 2009