D R C’s Pretty Sky turns in career-best performance in Goldfinch

D R C’s Pretty Sky ran the best race of her career and held off odds-on favorite Lovable Lyss to win the $65,000 Goldfinch Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday at Prairie Meadows.

Skipping over a waterlogged, sloppy track, D R C’s Pretty Sky raced three wide with the pace for most of the six-furlong Goldfinch, forging to the lead in midstretch under Ramon Vasquez and staving off Lovable Lyss’s sustained bid to win by a half-length.

Lovably Lyss, tracking splits of 22.52 and 45.89 seconds from fourth place, came wide into the stretch and continued on gamely while just failing to reach the winner. She finished 1 1/2 lengths in front of third-place My Master Plan, who was stuck down inside on the pace most of the trip and stayed on solidly to come home four lengths clear of Cosmic Evolution. Dundalk Bay and Maria’s Candy completed the order of finish after Seems Discreet was scratched.

D R C’s Pretty Sky was timed in 1:10.75 and paid $9 to win. Trained by Federico Villafranco for Danny Caldwell, D R C’s Pretty Sky is a Sky Mesa filly purchased at auction for $25,000. She has now 3 of 10 starts and has earned nearly $144,000.