Aug 3, 2024 – Despite drawing a disadvantageous gate to break from, Canuck Racing Club’s two-year-old filly Skylight Caper, sired by Souper Speed out of Kin’s Ghost, still went into her race on Saturday as a favourite for Top 2 finish. It is easy to understand why after her promising debut in a 5 ½ furlong race back on July 13th.
Running in partner Terra Racing Stable’s green silks when racing in company was a completely new experience, Skylight Caper shuffled to the back of an 11-horse field early and was ahead of only one rival by the quarter pole.
Coming out of the final turn, jockey Pietro Moran angled her out into the seven path at the top of the lane near the 330 yard mark and that was where Skylight Caper first started racing. Just two hundred yards later there were four horses in her wake and she was moving very fast in the deep stretch. In the next hundred yards she continued her strong close passing four more rivals in short order on her way to finishing in third, just a neck behind second place. The takeaway was that the young filly went from tenth to third in 330 yards, gaining 9 lengths on the leader in the final two furlongs, and showing that she can go longer than 5 ½ furlongs.
“In her first outing it was all new and she was getting clumps of dirt in her face and just trying to figure it all out,” commented Donato Lanni, top agent and a managing partner of Canuck Racing Club. “Coming back like that and finishing like she did is really impressive for a two-year-old.”
In fact, Skylight Caper closed the fastest of any horse in her debut race – and in the My Dear Stakes that took place later the same day at Woodbine. The stakes showdown was another 5 1/2 furlong sprint for two-year-old fillies that was run in almost the same time and won by a $425,000 Kentucky-bred filly who did not run as fast a final quarter as Skylight Caper.
Once again running under Pietro Moran but this time in Canuck Racing Club silks, Skylight Caper lived up to the hype in her second attempt on Saturday. Breaking well from the inside gate, she was content to watch the loose pacesetter along the backside and moved up to measure the leader by the quarter pole. With only mild urging, she pounced to the lead at the furlong marker, went by the frontrunner with ease and had more than enough to hold off the late surge from her stablemate, Periwinkle.
Skylight Caper’s convincing win has made her one to watch at Woodbine and might steer her towards stakes races sooner rather than later.