After emerging in good form from his GIII Count Fleet Sprint H. victory, MGSW Skelly (Practical Joke) will look to climb the class ladder with future targets including the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. and the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, announced trainer Steve Asmussen Sunday morning.
Having posted the meet's best time for six furlongs at 1:08.82 in that Count Fleet effort, beating the prior mark of 1:09.38, which he also set in his 2024 debut, the Oaklawn star will be setting his sights on bigger prizes this summer and autumn.
“I think that the two main targets for the rest of the year are the Vanderbilt at Saratoga and Breeders' Cup,” Asmussen said. “I do know I want to keep him at three-quarters of a mile.”
The Count Fleet was Skelly's first race back in the States since having his seven-race winning streak snapped by Remake (Jpn) (Lani) in the G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint.
“Very fortunate to have him,” Asmussen said. “Believe it or not, [Skelly] went to Saudi [Arabia] and came back faster. Speaks volumes about who he is.”
The Vanderbilt runs July 27 at Saratoga and the Breeders' Cup Sprint will go Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
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Longtime New York breeder Sanford Bacon passed away Friday. He was 95. Bacon bred hard-knocking Say Florida Sandy (Personal Flag), a multiple graded stakes winner and earner of over $2 million, as well as his half-sister Dancin Renee (Distinctive Pro). Both were named New York-bred champions. Say Florida Sandy was New York Horse of the Year in 2001 and 2002 and a three-time champion sprinter in the state. Graded stakes winner Dancin Renee was named New York Horse of the Year, as well as champion sprinter and champion older female, in 1997.
Bacon bred and campaigned Dancin Renee's six-time stakes-winning daughter Risky Rachel (Limehouse). Risky Rachel produced stakes-placed Risky Mischief (Into Mischief), as well as $1-million Fasig-Tipton March 2-year-old Yale (Scat Daddy).
“He was a great friend and I always enjoyed getting a phone call from him during training in the morning because it was always an interesting conversation, to say the least,” said Steve Venosa, whose SGV Thoroughbreds consigned the seven-figure juvenile to the Gulfstream sale in 2018. “He was definitely one of a kind and there will never be another one like him.”
No services had been announced as of Sunday afternoon.
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