Skims finds softer spot in Riskaverse Stakes
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After holding her own against graded stakes company in each of her last three starts, Skims will get some class relief when taking on 10 other 3-year-old fillies in Thursday’s $135,000 Riskaverse at Saratoga, a race restricted to horses who have never won a stakes other than statebred.
Skims opened her 3-year-old campaign with a game entry-level allowance victory at Tampa Bay Downs. She has finished third in the Grade 2 Appalachian, third in the Grade 2 Wonder Again, and most recently a troubled fifth in the Grade 3 Lake George here earlier in this meet in three subsequent starts, two of which came at the same mile distance as Thursday’s main event.
“She’s come along and gotten better as she’s gone along,” said trainer Shug McGaughey, who trains the homebred Skims for owner-breeder Andrew Rosen. “Her race at Keeneland [Appalachian] was a good race, she didn’t get away that good. I ran her back in the Wonder Again, and she ran okay. It was probably a little farther than she wants to go right now. When we ran her here, I was disappointed with her race, but Joel came back and said nothing happened right for him in the race.”
:: DRF's Saratoga headquarters – Stakes schedule, previews, recaps, past performances, and more
McGaughey was referring to jockey Joel Rosario, who is named aboard Skims once again in the Riskaverse.
“It’s a good spot for her,” McGaughey said. “It’s a bigger field than I expected, but if she goes over there and does what she’s supposed to do, she should be pretty tough.”
Trainer Chad Brown has won the Riskaverse three times, including last year with Rastafara, and will be well represented again this summer with the trio of Gina Romantica, the lightly raced Faith in Humanity, and Customer List.
“Gina Romantica, we’re trying turf for the first time. She trained well on it, so we’ll see,” Brown said. “Faith in Humanity, it took a while to get her to the races. She broke her maiden nicely at Monmouth, but she’ll have to step up here. She’s a horse we’ve always liked, so we’ll give her a shot. And Customer List, we had high hopes for her but she really hasn’t been able to get on form from where she was last year. She had a rough trip in her last start, she got squeezed back at the start and lost all chance there. I like the cut back to a mile for her, that’s why I chose this race.”
Canisy, who has registered two wins and a third from three career appearances, scratched out of Saturday’s Lake Placid for this much softer spot. The 84 Beyer Speed Figure she earned beating allowance company going nine furlongs here last month is the highest last-out Beyer in this well-matched lineup.
Republique also has won two of her three outings but is another trying grass for the first time. She will try to bounce back from a well-beaten fourth-place finish when switching to dirt in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks after opening her career with a pair of victories over the Tapeta surface at Gulfstream Park. She figures to force an early pace that is likely to be set by Missy Greer from her inside post.
Spirit and Glory upset Canisy at odds of 24-1 under allowance condition late this spring at Belmont Park in her U.S. debut but could not duplicate the effort when finishing next-to-last, albeit only 1 1/2 lengths behind Skims, in the Lake George.