Miss Sky Warrior pressed the pace before settling for a close fourth behind subsequent GI Frizette S. heroine Yellow Agate (Gemologist), and ahead of that one's fellow GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies contestant Jamyson 'n Ginger (Bernardini) first up at Big Sandy Sept. 11. A seven-length romper at Parx Oct. 15, the dark bay took late tote attention to garner favoritism over Eloquent Riddle in their respective first routes. Miss Sky Warrior was pushed along through horses by Paco Lopez to get position before being taken in hand to track Sky Gesture (Tiznow). Lopez gave his patented peek back with the quarter pole in sight, and his mount quickened willingly to open clear to midstretch. Berned rallied nicely down the center to collar Eloquent Riddle for second and narrow the geared-down winner's margin.
“She's a little tough,” offered Lopez. “I had to hold her–the plan coming in was to stalk from off the lead. At the sixteenth-pole, she started to change leads and drew away. The first time she ran, she finished fourth, but I liked her coming back and she won at Parx easy. Today, she was ready and I especially like her going two-turns moving forward.”
Added conditioner Kelly Breen, “She's a nice filly. I guess it was a pretty good learning curve. Paco said she was really eager down the backstretch to get her to go this far. I didn't think it wouldn't be too much to have to rate her because she's so kind in the mornings, but I guess after two races she's starting to get the knack of being a racehorse and wanting to 'go, go, go.' So Paco said he held her for as long as he could. In the stretch, she got in the front and got a little green, but he said her stride never shortened. She was just a little green and she'll learn from this. That's a good sign as far as I can tell.”
The winner, a third-generation homebred, has a yearling half-brother named Double Sky (Sky Mesa). Her dam was bred back to Paynter this spring.
Saturday, Santa Anita
TEMPTED S.-GIII, $200,000, AQU, 11-5, 2yo, f, 1m, 1:38.62, ft.
1–#@MISS SKY WARRIOR, 115, f, 2, by First Samurai
1st Dam: Sky Minister, by Conquistador Cielo
2nd Dam: Artful Minister, by Deputy Minister
3rd Dam: Art Talk, by Speak John
O-Arlene's Sun Star Stable; B-Arlene London (KY); T-Kelly
Breen; J-Paco Lopez. $120,000. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0,
$168,750. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Werk Nick Rating: C+.[bullet ad=”fourstar-hip2694-keenov16″][bullet ad=”glencrest-farm-foaled-raised”][bullet ad=”kbif-g2g3″]2–Berned, 115, f, 2, Bernardini–First Passage, by Giant's
Causeway. ($550,000 Ylg '15 KEESEP). O-Three C Stables, West
Point Thoroughbreds & Robert Masiello; B-AR Enterprises, LLC
(KY); T-Thomas Albertrani. $40,000.[bullet ad=”kirkwood-shell”]3–Eloquent Riddle, 115, f, 2, Harlan's Holiday–Comic Marvel, by
Distorted Humor. O/B-Juddmonte Farms Inc (KY); T-Chad
Brown. $20,000.
Margins: 3/4, 1 1/4, 2. Odds: 2.10, 7.70, 2.65.
Also Ran: Cursor, For Honor, Sky Gesture, Gran Cherry. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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