Striker Has Dial ends layoff with speedy score in Skipat

LAUREL, Md. – The Preakness Day stakes marathon started off on a strong note for the "home team" connections, as Striker Has Dial, who is based here at Laurel Park with trainer Horacio De Paz, led throughout to win the $125,000 Skipat Stakes for female sprinters, the fourth race on Saturday's 14-race card and the first of nine stakes on the day.

The victory also got the day off to a strong start for Ricardo Santana Jr., who has the mount on longshot Pretty Boy Miah in the Preakness Stakes this evening.

Santana's trip aboard Striker Has Dial ($16.40) was fairly straightforward. The mare, who appeared keen making her first start since September, broke like a shot from the rail in a scratch-shortened field of five horses.

"She's always a forward-running horse," De Paz said. "It was just a matter of if we had enough fitness."

Both Striker Has Dial and multiple Texas-bred stakes winner Modo, who broke from the outside post as the favorite, were intent on the lead. Striker Has Dial edged a half-length clear of her outside challenger through an opening quarter of 22.47 seconds on the fast track; there was daylight between those two and the rest of the field, as Benedetta was the closest pursuer in third.

Turning into the stretch, Striker Has Dial began to separate herself from Modo, and had a length lead through the half in 45.76. When set down in earnest by Santana, the mare responded stoutly, and kept driving through to the wire to win by 1 3/4 lengths.

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"She was going so easy today," Santana said. "The pressure never got to her. She was nice and relaxed throughout. When I asked her to go, she did it so easy."

Striker Has Dial stopped the clock in 1:10.44 for the six furlongs.

Benedetta, who loomed a danger entering the stretch, could never get to the winner, but was clearly best of the rest, finishing second by three lengths over Passage East. Grade 2 winner Kappa Kappa, who stumbled and then was bumped at the break, raced willingly afterward to be fourth in her first start of the year, with a fading Modo in last. Complexity Jane and Sporting Lady were both scratched in favor of running in different stakes on Friday's Laurel program.

Striker Has Dial, who is owned by Chief Horse Futures LLC, won for the fifth time in 15 career starts. She earned her second straight stakes win, albeit separated by nearly eight months, as she was last seen winning the Endine Stakes last Sept. 27 at Delaware Park. She owns multiple additional stakes placings - including a second in the 2025 Skipat to a quality foe in Zeitlos when the race was held at Pimlico.

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