S Y Sky faces strong field in Daisycutter Handicap

DEL MAR, Calif. – S Y Sky is one of five 2019 sprint-stakes winners in Saturday’s $85,000 Daisycutter Handicap for fillies and mares at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar, but the only one to have won two stakes in a row.

S Y Sky won the Camilla Urso Stakes at five furlongs on turf at Golden Gate Fields on April 27 and the Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes at five furlongs on dirt at Santa Anita on May 26. The Monrovia, which was S Y Sky’s fifth stakes win, was scheduled for turf but was switched to the main track because of wet conditions.

S Y Sky has three wins and a runner-up finish in four starts on turf in her 13-race career.

“She’s shown an affinity for the surface and the distance,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “She definitely likes the turf.”

Owned by breeder Nick Alexander, S Y Sky will be ridden by Drayden Van Dyke, who was aboard for the Monrovia. Van Dyke is likely to have S Y Sky in a stalking position in the field of 10. Kentan Road and Painting Corners are likely to ensure a quick pace.

“There is a ton of speed,” D’Amato said.

Painting Corners won the Mizdirection Stakes at five furlongs on turf at odds of 4-5 at Santa Anita on April 13, but bled in the Monrovia, finishing last of seven.

The other 2019 stakes winners in the field are A Little Bit Me, who won the Unbridled Sidney Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Churchill Downs on May 2 at 24-1; Gypsy Blu, who won the Irish O’Brien Stakes for California-bred fillies and mares on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in March; and Harking, who won the Budweiser Stakes at 4 1/2 furlongs on dirt at SunRay Park in New Mexico in May.

Alexander and D’Amato also start Just Grazed Me, the winner of the Fleet Treat Stakes for California-bred 3-year-old fillies here last July. Just Grazed Me has not raced since she won an optional claimer at Los Alamitos in December. She emerged from the race with an ankle injury, D’Amato said.

The Daisycutter Handicap will be Just Grazed Me’s turf debut. She worked a half-mile on turf in 49.40 seconds here on Monday.

“She seemed to float on it,” D’Amato said. “It’s a nice distance to get her going.”