Skinner enters Kentucky Derby picture with sharp maiden win
ARCADIA, Calif. – Skinner, Grade 1-placed as a maiden 2-year-old last summer, jumped into the Derby picture with an emphatic maiden win Feb. 12 at Santa Anita, his first start since October. Skinner won the mile race by more than three lengths with a noteworthy 95 Beyer Speed Figure.
John Shirreffs, who trains the son of Curlin for owners Lee and Susan Searing, said Skinner was immature last season.
“In the beginning, everything was new to him,” he said. “He wasn’t really established and secure in his position, in his training.”
Skinner nonetheless finished a better-than-looked fifth in his debut, followed by a third in the Del Mar Futurity. After the colt finished sixth in the Grade 1 American Pharoah in the fall at Santa Anita, Shirreffs and Skinner went back to the basics.
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“We spent a lot of time taking him to the gate, standing him, doing a lot of little things just to build confidence,” Shirreffs said.
It showed in his comeback. Skinner broke well, relaxed in sixth position, took dirt, rallied outside, and powered home.
“He did everything right,” Shirreffs said.
His next race is expected to be a graded stakes. Skinner is a new addition to this week’s Derby Watch list. Shirreffs won the 2005 Kentucky Derby with Giacomo.
Tall Boy steps up in Dubai
California to Dubai to Kentucky is a circuitous route to the Kentucky Derby for two-time Derby-winning trainer Doug O’Neill, but so far so good. O’Neill sent a pair of 3-year-olds to the Middle East – maiden Tall Boy and turf allowance winner Ah Jeez. “The 3-year-old dirt category over there is good, but not as great as here,” O’Neill said, adding he was “just trying to figure out who is our best chance in the UAE Derby category.”
Tall Boy, fourth in the Los Alamitos Futurity, won the Group 3 UAE 2000 Guineas on Feb. 10 at Meydan to emerge as a contender for the UAE Derby on March 25. The UAE Derby winner earns 100 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, second through fifth finishers earn 40 , 30, 20, and 10 points, respectively.
Ah Jeez makes his first start on dirt Feb. 24 at Meydan.
“If that one goes well, we might have two for the UAE Derby,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill won the 2016 Kentucky Derby with Nyquist and the 2012 Kentucky Derby with I’ll Have Another.
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