Skippylongstocking could get stalking trip in Essex

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Skippylongstocking likes to operate on “Skippy Time,” and that might lead to a stalking trip Saturday when he starts in the Grade 3, $500,000 Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park.

The 1 1/8-mile race for 4-year-olds and up is one of two notable offerings on an 11-race card. It includes the $135,000 Lapatourel, a 1 1/16-mile overnight stakes for older fillies and mares. The Essex drew a field of eight, with Grade 3 winner Accelerize cross-entered in the New Orleans Classic on Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Skippylongstocking is the class of the Essex field as a Grade 1 winner of $5.46 million. He also is the 124-pound highweight and will spot his rivals between five and nine pounds each. Skippylongstocking enters off a closing win in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park, but for Saturday, he could settle just off Accelerize, Runaway Again, and Doc Sullivan when he breaks from post 5.

“The thing is, he’s very tactical,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said of Skippylongstocking. “He can be anywhere. But we’ve ridden him more patiently. This race doesn’t have as much speed, so he’ll just sit naturally closer because there isn’t as much pace in this race. Like I said, he’s versatile. The key to him, we’ve learned, is not to rush him. He’s become a much better horse since we’ve ridden him like that.”

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Skippylongstocking hit a career milestone in the Pegasus when he won his first Grade 1. He darted home by 1 3/4 lengths over White Abarrio and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 104. It was the 11th graded stakes win for Skippylongstocking, a 7-year-old who races for Daniel Alonso.

“The Pegasus was his coming-out party,” Joseph said. “He had run fast enough to win Grade 1 races, but he had never done it on a day that he needed to, and the Pegasus, he obviously did it.”

Joseph intended for Skippylongstocking to seek another Grade 1 in the Santa Anita Handicap, but he became unsettled just before his flight west was set to take off, according to a report in Daily Racing Form, and the decision was made to keep him home in South Florida. Joseph said, for a number of reasons, the Essex became the new target for Skippylongstocking.

“Obviously, we were going to California and he had the plane issue,” he said. “I could have waited next week for [a stakes at] Gulfstream, but this race is good timing. It sets us up for the Alysheba [at Churchill], gives us a little extra time to the Alysheba. We think it’s a good race to get back on track. He’s run on the course already, so we know he likes the course.”

Skippylongstocking won the Grade 2, $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap at 5. The Essex will be the third local appearance for Skippylongstocking, who ran third in last year’s Oaklawn Handicap. Micah Husbands has the mount Saturday.

“He’s a young, talented rider,” Joseph said. “He’s going to be a future superstar. He rides a lot of horses for us at Gulfstream. Tyler [Gaffalione] obviously was committed already to [ride at] Fair Grounds because this wasn’t in the plans. [Micah’s] won a couple of graded stakes for us already, and I believe in him a lot. He’s young, but if you’re recruiting draft picks for the future, he’s going to be one of the top ones.”

Joseph said Husbands is a nephew of fellow jockey Patrick Husbands.

Lapatourel

Peignoir has moved forward with each of her starts at the meet and could be sitting on a peak race when she makes the third start of her form cycle in the five-horse Lapatourel.

Peignoir returned from a six-month layoff in December and finished fourth in the $150,000 Pippin at Oaklawn. From there, she was second in the track’s $135,000 Trivista, an overnight stakes on Feb. 27.

The winner of the race, Nerazurri, has established herself as a notable female runner this meet. Earlier this month, trainer Mark Casse said she is being considered for the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn or stakes opportunities in New York.

Peignoir will start from post 2 under Cristian Torres.

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