Swiss Skydiver back in training, will work in near future

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Swiss Skydiver, who surely will be named the champion 3-year-old filly of 2020 when Eclipse Awards are announced Thursday night, is nearing her first breeze of the year. Trainer Kenny McPeek said the 2020 Preakness winner “has been galloping at Gulfstream for two or three weeks now and is doing great.”

“We gave her 60 days’ rest and have no first race back in mind,” he said. “There are no intentions of going to Saudi Arabia or Dubai with her.”

Meanwhile, McPeek said several of his 3-year-old fillies are on a similar schedule, including Oliviaofthedesert, Crazy Beautiful, and Simply Ravishing, all of whom will have their first 2021 start later in the Gulfstream meet or perhaps at Keeneland.

Likewise, Envoutante, who ended her 3-year-old season by winning the Grade 2 Falls City by six lengths at Churchill in late November, is just now gearing back up, with perhaps the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park being a target, while Jeweled Princess, another 4-year-old filly, goes next in the Jan. 31 Ladies Classic at Sam Houston.

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King Fury, winner of the Street Sense at Churchill in late October prior to finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland and fifth in the Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill, is still at McPeek’s newly renamed Silver Leaf Hills training center (formerly Summerfield) near Ocala, Fla., and probably won’t be ready to race again at least until April.

“We’re not going to press the subject for the Derby,” he said. “Besides, he’d have to take it to another level to consider it.”