Skye Diamonds finds elusive winning form

ARCADIA, Calif. – Skye Diamonds was in the winner’s circle minutes after Sunday’s Grade 3 L.A. Woman Stakes at Santa Anita, with one prominent member of her team absent.

Trainer Bill Spawr was on the other side of the grandstand, bound for the paddock. The next race was for a sprint for $10,000 claimers and Spawr had a potential purchase in mind.

“I wanted to look at a horse,” he said.

Spawr lost a five-way shake for the prospect – beaten favorite Lucky Student – and missed the winner’s circle ceremony of the L.A. Woman in its entirety. He was fine with that. The afternoon was a success. Skye Diamonds had won her third graded stakes and first since summer 2017.

Skye Diamonds is a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3. Spawr said those plans depend on a conversation with the owners – Tom Acker, Allen Racing, Bloom Racing, and Jon Lindo. She was fourth in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar in 2017.

Skye Diamonds ended a six-race losing streak in the $100,000 L.A. Woman Stakes, which was run at 6 1/2 furlongs for fillies and mares. Skye Diamonds ($11.20) closed from fourth in a field of five to win by 1 1/4 lengths over 7-10 favorite Anonymity.

Aside from the Breeders’ Cup, the six-race losing streak included a third by three-quarters of a length to Selcourt in the Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes, and a second to Marley’s Freedom by 1 1/2 lengths in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos in July.

In August, Marley’s Freedom, who is rated as the leading contender for the BC Filly and Mare Sprint, was the easy winner of the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga.

“She was second at Los Al to the best sprinter in the country,” Spawr said. “She was closer to her than anybody else.”

Skye Diamonds was third in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at Del Mar after racing near the front. Spawr said she is better when positioned off the pace, a style that was effective for jockey Tiago Pereira on Sunday.

Skye Diamonds has won 10 of 23 starts and earned $690,150. A 5-year-old mare by First Dude, Skye Diamonds has earned $570,100 since being claimed for $40,000 in August 2016.

On Monday at Santa Anita, Marley’s Freedom worked six furlongs in 1:10.80, although trainer Bob Baffert timed her 1:11.

“I should have run her yesterday,” Baffert said. “She could have gotten paid $60,000.”

Baffert’s stable has been hit with a virus, which has prevented some of his horses from running. He said Marley’s Freedom was not affected, but that he opted to pass on the L.A. Woman Stakes as a precaution.

“I didn’t want to run because of the sickness in the barn,” he said. “I didn’t want to stress her.”

Two trainers fined

Trainers David Jacobson and John Martin were fined $500 each last weekend by Santa Anita stewards for overages of permitted medications found in post-race tests taken from their starters at Del Mar during the summer.

Jacobson was cited when Bargaining, who finished fourth in the third race on July 25, tested in excess of the permitted level of the analgesic phenylbutazone.

Martin was cited when Adios Cali, who finished third in the fourth race on Aug. 10, tested in excess of the permitted level of corticosteroid betamethasone.

◗ In other decisions announced earlier this month, owner Aron Wellman, who directs the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, was fined $500 for disorderly conduct toward a racing official at Del Mar on Sept. 2. Wellman was cited for use of profanity, according to a ruling issued by Santa Anita stewards last Friday.