Slewperstitus cruises to Weather Vane win
Easily handles solid field
Frank Vespe
September 19, 2026
Early in her career, the three-year-old Slewperstitus made something of a habit of running terrific races without winning. In five of her seven stakes starts prior to today, she had finished second.
But the worm may be turning for the improving Great Notion filly. The Maryland homebred for Nancy and Eric Rizer thrashed a solid field to win today’s six-furlong, $100,000 Weather Vane Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths for her second stakes win and fourth win overall from 11 career outings. She has earned more than $350,000.
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“Some of them get better as they get older. Some of them don’t,” Eric Rizer said. “And Slewperstitus, for some reason, she’s just really getting better right now. I think a lot of it’s not just physically as much as it’s mentally, too. You know, some of them take that mental step.”
Slewperstitus went off as the 7-2 third choice in today’s seven-horse contest, with the Brad Cox-trained Sneaky Good off at 2-1, followed by Mark Casse trainee French Friction. But the complexion of the race changed almost as soon as the gates opened, as French Friction, who had typically showed good early speed, settled in behind horses.
That left Just Philtored and Embrace the Moment duking it heads apart for early supremacy. Those two zipped an opener in 22.84 seconds and got the half-mile in 45.99.
Jockey Jevian Toledo kept Slewperstitus out wide and out of trouble a few lengths off it early, and the duo glided up to engage the leaders nearing the quarter-pole, cruising by them. Once Slewperstitus switched leads, she was long gone. Running time for six furlongs on a fast main track was 1:10.87.
Sneaky Good and French Friction mounted late rallies to grab the place and show spots, respectively, but neither presented a true threat to the winner.
Slewperstitus paid $9.20 to win and topped an exacta, with the favorite underneath, that returned $12.30 for a one-dollar wager.
“We couldn’t be happier,” Rizer said.
Slewperstitus had won her second start of 2026 but finished second in each of her three subsequent outings.
In the state-restricted Miss Disco July 11, she turned the tables on local rival Just Philtored – the Mike Trombetta trainee who’d finished ahead of her four times last year – and bested that rival only to have Irish Jig zip up the rail late to defeat both of them narrowly.
“That really drove me crazy,” Rizer said. “It’s the way things played out, but it was very frustrating.”
In her next start, Slewperstitus had run into a buzz saw in Mashallah, who followed up a win in the Tyson Gilpin Stakes with another in the Grade 3 Prioress.
But today she got the trip she wanted.
The Slewperstitus story begins decades ago, when Rizer purchased paid $4,000 to acquire the mare Bullet Assault in foal to Corridor Key. He subsequently bred her to Mr. Executioner, and the resultant foal was Ministers Bullet, who retired winless, but the Rizers then bred Ministers Bullet to Slew City Slew to produce two-time winner Slew of Bullets.
And when Slew of Bullets was bred to Great Notion, she produced Slewperstitus.
“She can be a little volatile at times,” Rizer said of Slewperstitus. “Her mom was the same way. She used to love to take riders for a ride in the morning and stuff.”
Rizer gives credit to trainer Robbie Bailes, who continued a strong season with the win today. He’s winning at a 20% clip this year and, with more than $1.4 million in purse earnings to date, has a decent chance to reach a career-high bankroll.
“I mean, we’re just having the time of our life right now,” Rizer said. “It’s really enjoyable.”
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