Sky Flyer Soars in Louisville Oaks

Original article written by Marzy Dotes posted 13 years 0 weeks ago

The swift filly bided her time carefully in the midst of rippling manes and flying hooves but when it mattered most in the far turn, she turned bold and decisive, really beginning to run for the first time. The daughter of a mare who never experienced the thrill of racing herself grabbed the lead and never looked back, capturing the $500,000 Grade I Louisville Oaks by 1 ½ lengths over Embellish in the glowing time over the 1 1/8 mile distance at Louisville Downs of 1:49.30.

Who was this filly, you might ask and some people watching the race did, but her name was Sky Flyer and the solid grey filly looked very impressive as she sailed on down the lane in front of a grandstand and infield packed with 200,000 people. The race came down to a thrilling rush of closers as the two front runners tried to stretch out their blazing speed to the very end.

But it's the filly who carried the dashing yellow and black silks that took the flowers home.

Sky Flyer had been purchased for $600,000 by owner Peter Gleason who held onto the Steward bred like a prized gem to cherish and race as his own rather than to put her up for sale. She resembles her sire Greenspan in both coloring and stature and the 12 year old stallion has his successes but had been waiting most of his stud career for a budding star like this filly. Greenspan, the son of Hall of Famer Saga and the very nice unraced and now deceased broodmare Sea Jewel had himself sold for $10,000,000 at auction but has a way to go before returning on that investment. He had a very nice racing career winning just under half of his lifetime starts and finished second twice in the Steward’s Cup Marathon after winning the Los Campeones Classic. But his stud career's been a bit frustrating for him.

Sky Flyer’s broodmare was the unraced mare, Sky Brusher who produced the stakes winner Arms not to mention the very nice unraced son (by Notorious) named High Esteem who’s been wowing in the mornings. And that brings up Sky Brusher’s most famous offspring of all, Sky Gambler who produced with some assistance from stud Notorious, Long Island Classic winner Highly Regarded.

So Sky Flyer had the bloodlines to be very successful in some classic style racing herself. She prepared for her racing career very smartly in her morning works and she began her career at the flat mile. Not her cup of tea as it turned out, as she finished fourth to mile specialists including Beautiful Lies who’s by Big Money and is a half sister to well known dirt miler Chief. It took her two attempts at routing before she landed in the winner’s circle at Futurity Park before capping off her juvenile campaign with a decisive win in the Trial by Summer Sales Graduate Debutante.

That set her up nicely to shine as a sophomore and she did winning the Truckle Feature Memorial Stakes and next up on her schedule would be the renowned Louisville Oaks. But even with these wins under her belt, Sky Flyer was a relatively untried filly who because she wasn’t that precocious missed matching her powers against the top fillies in her class who had lined up in to battle for the Oaks.

Fillies like the elegant Iki who had charged from the back of the pack to lord over the rest of the fillies in the Steward’s Cup Juvenile Fillies before being voted North American champion two year old filly. Then there were the likes of Brat Pack and Bodega Harbor who were trying to be their mothers’ daughters, being out of Brat and Bodega Bay respectively. You also had Worth Millions by the famed East and out of the broodmare, Was It Worth It who produced the great champion filly High Flyer.

Then of course, there was As You Sleep, the chestnut daughter of Braveheart, probably one of the aptly named Louisville Derby winners ever and the great broodmare Wonder whose latest offspring, Sleep Soundly is inducing cardiac arrests at auction, with most of the breeding industry already priced out of that bidding war with nearly a week left.

In many ways, the race sized up as a celebration of renowned female runners and broodmares of the past and present which was very fitting. Most of the entries had their shares of accomplishments but it was hard not to be humbled by the bloodlines carried by the bold and talented females in this race. There were those who resembled finely muscled Amazons and those who were deceptively delicate in stature but all of them as they stood in the paddock and trotted in the post parade looked on their game.

When the gates opened, the free running filly, As You Sleep grabbed the lead and tried as she had in the past to stretch it out early on. She can do it so quickly in just a few strides that often it’s caught her rivals nearly off guard. This time a chestnut filly named Embellish appeared to say, no way sheila and landed the second spot clearly keeping the leader in her sights. Quite a few fillies including Brat Pack, Bodega Harbor and Sky Flyer hung off the pace but none as far as Iki who loves to settle in last place, reserving her blazing kick for the final stretch.

As they ran into the backstretch, As You Sleep did steal away by 3 ¾ lengths and many in the stands though that the $30 million filly might pull it off but Embellish still said, no. Premix, a daughter of Radee and a half sister to Perturb hung in third followed by Brat Pack and the other fillies including Iki decided to save their battles for later in the race. But Jockey Wendy Cooper who had stuck with Sky Flyer in all her races knew that her filly would be most effective by being patient allowing the speed to shake itself out in front of her.

In the far turn, As You Sleep started coming back to the field but just barely but Sky Flyer has decided that the sweep of the turn was the perfect spot of attack and she blazed around the turn, with poor Embellish falling back into the pack as Premix, Brat Pack and a rushing Bodega Harbor swallowed her up! The mighty filly’s fan club of young girls who had sold cookies to earn money to travel to see Embellish run nearly burst into tears as it seemed all hope was lost. High Flyer took no prisoners though as she continued her relentless kick channeling everything her parents had given her during that fortuitous meeting in the breeding shed. As the crowds roared, Sky Flyer started pulling away from the field and won the race nicely. Embellish roared back in the stretch to snatch the second spot by a 1/4 length over Worth Millions who finished third.

The winning connections celebrated, the little girls stopped crying and hi fived each other and the owner of Worth Millions and Brat Pack Scott Eiland catapulted himself over the rail and bounded to greet Worth Millions. He hugged her enthusiastically until security came to escort him away just before Brat Pack came looking for her share of the love.

But Sky Flyer had her winner’s circle ceremony amid the drama and excitement which surrounded her and there’s great anticipation arising about where this gallant filly might turn up next. She took off as thousands of people waved goodbye for now off to Wise Owl Estate. The filly wars can be as bold and as brutal as their male counterparts, and the gauntlet has been put out there by this filly in what should be an exciting year among the sophomore filly class of Year 29.

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