Sky High Gal goes for first graded stakes win in Las Cienegas
[bc_video_id:321095:]ARCADIA, Calif. – Sky High Gal has won stakes on the hillside turf course and at a mile on turf at Santa Anita since the start of 2013. Such races will be the focus for the rest of her career.
“She’s good in anything up to a mile,” trainer John Sadler said Thursday.
On Saturday, Sky High Gal starts in the $100,000 Las Cienegas Stakes over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course for fillies and mares. The Grade 3 Las Cienegas could be the first graded stakes win for Sky High Gal, who races for Hronis Racing. Sky High Gal was fourth in the Grade 3 Sen. Ken Maddy Stakes here last November.
Sadler has three runners in the Las Cienegas, which drew a field of seven. He starts Minds Eyes, who was third March 15 in the Camilla Urso Stakes at Golden Gate Fields, and Llandudno, who was third in an optional claimer on the hillside turf course March 13.
“They’re all in there for the same reason – it’s a graded stake,” Sadler said. “They all fit the race.”
Sky High Gal, a 4-year-old filly by Leroidesanimaux, won the Blue Norther Stakes over a mile on turf in January 2013, her first start for Hronis and Sadler. Sky High Gal returned from a three-month break to win her only start this year, the minor Wishing Well Stakes on the hillside turf course Feb. 9.
Sky High Gal led throughout the Wishing Well but is likely to track the speedy Biorhythm in the Las Cienegas.
“I think she’ll sit second,” Sadler said.
Biorhythm makes her stakes debut in the Las Cienegas. Trained by Tom Proctor for Glen Hill Farm, the 4-year-old Biorhythm has won 3 of 6 starts. By Malibu Moon, Biorhythm won her debut on the hillside turf course in an optional claimer March 13, her first start since August.
Proctor said Biorhythm can sometimes display quirky behavior.
“She’s not one you want to range upon,” Proctor said. “When they go by, they better go by quick. She could make any kind of turn.”
The field has two other stakes winners – Ciao Bella Luna and Tribal Spy.
Ciao Bella Luna won the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint in January and was second to Tribal Spy in the Irish O’Brien Stakes for California-breds on March 15. Tribal Spy was third in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint.
Last year, Ciao Bella Luna won the Grade 2 Beaumont Stakes on the Polytrack synthetic surface at Keeneland.