Woodbine: Sky High Lady goes last to first in River Memories

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sky High Lady rallied stoutly to land her first stakes win Saturday at Woodbine in the $105,400 River Memories, which was taken off the soggy turf about an hour before the race and run on the Polytrack.

Sky High Lady broke slowly under Patrick Husbands and then lagged behind the rest of the field on the backstretch, as Hobnobsnob set a lively pace in the 1 1/16-mile event. Sky High Lady reached contention on the far turn and then awaited room at the head of the stretch before closing wide to prevail by a length in 1:44.36. She paid $8.50 to win.

Queen of the Waves checked in second, and favored Part the Seas was third in a field reduced to six after the late scratches of No Explaining and Chedington.

“She threw her head leaving (the gate), but I never worried about that,” Husbands said. “I had so much horse by the quarter pole. I got stopped there, but when I got in the clear, she was the best.”

It was the third victory on the card for Mark Casse, who trains Sky High Lady for owner John Oxley.