Spun to Run

Spun to Run, a Hard Spun colt owned and bred by Robert Donaldson and trained by Juan Guerrero, raced four times during fall 2018 and early 2019 before breaking his maiden on Jan. 19 at Parx Racing. He next won an allowance optional claiming race at the same track but then did not make his next start until the Grade 1 TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 20.

Sent off as a 34.60-1 longshot, Spun to Run ran a credible third behind Maximum Security and Mucho Gusto. He then returned to his home track of Parx Racing and picked up his first stakes win in the Sept. 2 Grade 3 Smarty Jones Stakes, outfinishing Gray Magician to score by a head.

Spun to Run ran fifth in the Pennsylvania Derby and then romped in a one-mile listed stakes at Parx Racing before shipping to Santa Anita Park for the Nov. 2 Big Ass Farms Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, which was headlined by comeback horse Omaha Beach. Under Irad Ortiz, Jr., the colt went straight to the lead and was not challenged in a gate-to-wire triumph, with Omaha Beach rallying late to get second. That improved Spun to Run’s lifetime record to five wins in 11 starts and pushed his career earnings to just under $1 million.

Spun to Run closed his 3-year-old season with a runner-up finish to Maximum Security in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile Handicap Dec. 7 at Aqueduct.