Skyhyla to get tested in sprint

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Skyhyla, an impressive debut winner of a very tough maiden special weight race May 8, will try to make it two in a row when she faces eight other 3-year-old fillies in a $50,000 optional race at Hastings on Sunday. She could have her hands full with a very sharp and speedy Wild Glory breaking from the rail. The 6 1/2-furlong feature goes as the ninth of 12 races.

Skyhyla, who races for and was bred by Bellevue Oaks, has a right to be a good one. She's a half-sister to 2002 B.C. Premiers winner Shacane, and she surprised her trainer, Toni Cloutier Jacobson, with the way she won her initial start.

"We didn't think she had that much early speed," Jacobsen said. "She's still green but obviously she has a lot of talent."

Nicola Wright will ride Skyhyla.

Wild Glory has been perfect in her two starts at Hastings. A daughter of Forest Wildcat, Wild Glory was claimed by Budget Stable for $20,000 at Santa Anita March and was shipped to Hastings, where she beat $25,000 claiming fillies April 24 and $50,000 optional fillies May 15. In both races she led from start to finish, and there's not much doubt that jockey David Wilson will be sending her to the lead from her rail slot. She's trained by Janet Armstrong.

Sacred Cat will be making her first start of the year, and it will also be her first race at Hastings. She closed out her 2-year-old season with a front-running win over special weight maidens at Woodbine on Nov. 14, and she could have enough speed to compromise the chances of Wild Glory.