Pebbles distance big question for Eyeinthesky

ELMONT, N.Y. – Anyone trying to find options other than from the barns of trainers Christophe Clement and Chad Brown in Saturday’s $200,000 Pebbles Stakes will find them few and far between. In fact, there were only three when entries were drawn Wednesday for the one-mile fixture for 3-year-old fillies – Eyeinthesky, Passing Out, and Alasaayil. Clement and Brown each has a pair in the race.

Eyeinthesky has made great strides lately for trainer Mark Casse, although she’ll be attempting to stay a mile for the first time in the Pebbles. The daughter of Sky Mesa enters the race off the two best performances of her career, a second behind the then-undefeated and odds-on Break Even in the Coronation Cup and a subsequent victory in the Galway Stakes, with both races decided at 5 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga.

Eyeinthesky has run twice at a mile, finishing eighth in the Natalma at Woodbine last year and fourth in the Sweetest Chant at Gulfstream in February.

“I’ve always kind of thought she would stretch out if you look at her,” Casse said. “The problem when I did run her a mile, she’d get herself in a little trouble in the first turn. With this being a one-turn mile here, it should suit her nicely, and I think this is the perfect time to try stretching her out again. Although she’ll likely be close to the pace stretching out, she has been rating lately, so hopefully she’ll settle early and can come with a run.”

Passing Out, trained by Shug McGaughey, has started just four times, winning twice, including a game allowance victory five weeks earlier at Saratoga. She was able to extricate herself from all sorts of traffic through the stretch before surging late under jockey Jose Ortiz for a three-quarter-length decision at a mile.

The Clement pair of East and Feel Glorious along with the Brown duo of Blowout and Seek and Destroy round out the field.