Charles Fipke and trainer Roger Attfield, along with jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson, will ride two of the most enigmatic horses the owner and trainer have had in recent years in a pair of strong stakes races at Tampa Bay Downs, February 5.
LADY SPEIGHTSPEARE, Canada’s Champion 2-year-old filly in 2020 based on two wins in two starts including the Grade 1 Natlama Stakes, is 3-to-1 for the $175,000 Endeavour Stakes, race six on a nice card of racing at Tampa Bay. The occasionally difficult filly missed an entire year after her Natalma win but came back to racing with a turf win on Sept. 6 at Woodbine. The daughter of Speightstown then was in the gate for the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Keeneland but became fractious and had to be scratched.
Back at Woodbine, Lady Speightspeare won her Tapeta surface debut in the Grade 2 Bessarabian Stakes on Nov. 13 to remain undefeated.
That streak came to an unfortunate end on Dec. 26 in her first two-turn attempt in the Tropical Park Oaks at Gulfstream. After setting a hot pace, the filly jumped tracks and bore out on the turn for home and she wound up third.
In the Endeavour, Lady Speightspeare has post position three with the unbeaten Bleecker Street and recent Wayward Lass Stakes winner Nantucket Red to her inside. Nantucket Red, owned by Colebrook Farms in Uxbridge and trained by Mike Wright led all the way to win that stakes event but she will have some early pace pressure from Lady Speightspeare.
In race eight, Fipke, Attfield, and Wilson and SHIRL’S SPEIGHT (15 to 1) contest the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Stakes worth $175,000. This 5-year-old horse, also by Speightstown and from Perfect Shirl (who is a half-sister to Lady Speightspeare’s dam Lady Shakespeare), began his career in 2020 with two straight wins including the Grade 3 Marine Stakes at Woodbine. He was then pitted against superstars in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, finished seventh, and then was third in the Toronto Cup Stakes.
Shirk’s Speight returned in January 2021 at Gulfstream and was fifth in a dirt sprint. He missed time until December 2021 and was seventh in a Tapeta allowance race, originally scheduled for grass.
Back on the turf on Jan. 15, Shirl’s Speight won for the first time since the Marine stakes, taking an optional claiming race with a 93 Beyer Figure. Shirl’s Speight has post four in a tough field.
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