Peter Callahan | Horse Racing Free Tips

Peter Callahan's multiple graded stakes winner Swiss Skydiver, the runaway leader atop the Road to the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard with 310 points, might challenge the boys in Saturday's 94th running of the $600,000 Toyota Blue Grass (G2) on the fourth day of Keeneland's unprecedented five-day Summer Meet in Lexington, Ky.

Nominated to the Triple Crown, Swiss Skydiver, a daughter of Daredevil, also is nominated to Keeneland's Central Bank Ashland (G1) to be run the same day. She is trained by Kenny McPeek, who also conditions another Central Bank Ashland nominee, Envoutante, a daughter of Uncle Mo owned by Walking L Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm. Envoutante won an allowance race at Churchill Downs in her most recent race on May 29.

Entries for the Toyota Blue Grass and Central Bank Ashland both will be taken Wednesday.

“I'm not going to decide (the next race for Swiss Skydiver) until the morning of entries,” McPeek said late Saturday morning after Envoutante and Swiss Skydiver each worked at Churchill Downs.

“There's several factors (in making the decision),” he added. “I need to make sure the other filly (Envoutante) is good to go in the Ashland. Like I said, I'm inclined to keep them apart. We'll see. I want to check field size, things like that.”

No filly has won the Toyota Blue Grass, and only one filly has run in the race since it debuted at Keeneland during the track's inaugural Spring Meet in April 1937. She is Hyman Friedberg's homebred Harriet Sue, who in 1944 won the Ashland and next was fifth to Skytracer in the Blue Grass. That year, Keeneland's Spring Meet was held at Churchill Downs.

In 1948, future Hall of Famer Bewitch was scratched from the Blue Grass.

Saturday's 83rd running of Central Bank Ashland figures to attract a small but select field regardless of where Swiss Skydiver runs.

Three Grade 2 winners are expected to be entered Wednesday: Juddmonte Farms' Bonny South, winner of the Fair Grounds Oaks; Slam Dunk Racing, Doug Branham and Legacy Ranch's Tonalist's Shape, winner of the Davona Dale, and Ciaglia Racing, Highland Yard, River Oak Farm and Dominic Savides' Venetian Harbor, winner of the Las Virgenes.

Saturday's Blue Grass, which marks the 25^th running of the race sponsored by Toyota, could draw a field of 12, including Swiss Skydiver. Other notables expected to pass the entry box include Jackpot Farm's Basin, winner of last summer's Runhappy Hopeful (G1) and most recently runner-up in a division of the Arkansas Derby (G1); John Oxley's Enforceable, winner of the Lecomte (G3) and multiple graded stakes-placed, and Bruce Lunsford's sharp Churchill allowance winner Art Collector.

The post Kentucky Oaks Points Leader Swiss Skydiver A Definite Maybe For Blue Grass appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) has been nominated for both the GI Central Bank Ashland S. and GII Toyota Blue Grass S., both to be run July 11 at Keeneland, and trainer Ken McPeek said he will give strong consideration to both races for his 3-year-old filly.

“I’ll probably run her in the Ashland, but there are a lot of things to consider,” McPeek said. “For one, I have another nice filly for the Ashland in Envoutante (Uncle Mo). With all these 3-year-old races being run around the same time, I’d imagine the field for the Blue Grass will be a little diluted. There’s also the weights. She carried 124 in her last start (win in the GII Santa Anita Oaks) and she’d only have to carry 118 if she were to go in the Blue Grass. Most of the colts in the race are going to have to jump up in weight. Who’s to say how much of a factor that would be. A filly has never won the Blue Grass so it would be a nice achievement.”

Other factors include the purses of each race and their grades. The Blue Grass is a $600,000 race but a Grade II. The Ashland purse is $400,000 and the race is a Grade I.

“Winning a Grade I is important with a filly,” McPeek said. Swiss Skydiver has won three graded races but has yet to notch a Grade I victory.

McPeek said he will not make his decision until the day of entry and will keep an eye on what horses are going in each race.

“We’ll do our research and figure it out,” he said. “An old-timer once told me don’t make an important decision until you absolutely have to. If there’s going to be 14 in the Blue Grass and just six or seven in the Ashland we’ll probably go in the Ashland. If the size of both fields is going to be about the same we can wait and make our decision when it is time to enter.”

A start in the Blue Grass could open up the doors for additional starts against males for Swiss Skydiver. A win would give her 100 Kentucky Derby points, more than enough to get into the field for what will be the second leg of the Triple Crown this year. Swiss Skydiver is nominated to the Triple Crown.

After showing little in her first two starts this year, Swiss Skydiver won the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks by 3 1/4 lengths and followed that with a win in the GIII Fantasy S. at Oaklawn. With Mike Smith aboard, she won the Santa Anita Oaks by four lengths.

The post Blue Grass a Possibility for Swiss Skydiver appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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