Kentucky Derby pedigree profile: Swiss Skydiver

Swiss Skydiver

Daredevil – Expo Gold, by Johannesburg

Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm ($35,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Ken McPeek)

Swiss Skydiver has thrived around two turns, with three consecutive graded stakes victories making her by far the divisional points leader toward the Kentucky Oaks. The filly, trained by Ken McPeek for Peter Callahan, now earns a chance to jump onto the Kentucky Derby trail as she takes on the boys in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. Interestingly, the bulk of the true routing ability in Swiss Skydiver’s pedigree lies beyond the first generation.

Swiss Skydiver is from the first crop of Daredevil, winner of the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes going a one-turn mile at Belmont as a juvenile. The following spring, he finished second in the Grade 2 Swale Stakes at seven furlongs and was fourth in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial at 1 1/8 miles. Daredevil, who has been exported to continue his stud career in Turkey, is the sire of another Oaks hopeful from his first crop in Shedaresthedevil, who won the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes and was third in the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes behind Swiss Skydiver and Venetian Harbor.

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While Expo Gold scored the only two wins of her career sprinting, her dam, Clouds of Gold, was multiple graded stakes-placed at 1 1/4 miles. In addition to Swiss Skydiver, Expo Gold also is the dam of Is It Gold, minor stakes-placed at 1 1/16 miles on dirt, and Miss Hot Legs, a stakes-placed turf sprinter. Miss Hot Legs is by Verrazano, who, like Daredevil, is a son of More Than Ready.

Clouds of Gold is a half-sister to Mister Business, a stakes winner at 1 1/16 miles on dirt. This is the extended family of Grade 1 winners Mistical Plan and Private Persuasion.