Zipse: Is Skippylongstocking Grade 1 material?

One of my favorite horses in training, Skippylongstocking is having a very successful career. Still, there is something notably missing from his 23-race resume as he prepares for his next start.

The Kentucky-bred son of Exaggerator is a six-time graded-stakes winner of $2,291,685, but he never has won a Grade 1 race. A win on Saturday, June 29th in the $1 million Stephen Foster would take care of that gap in his credentials.

Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. Skippylongstocking figures to be one of the horses to beat in what is expected to be a strong field for the Grade 1 Foster at Churchill Downs.

He will come into the Breeders’ Cup Classic win-and-you’re-in race in fine form and will be riding the first winning streak of his career.

Two starts back he cruised to a 2 1/2-length victory in the $100,000 Challenger Stakes (G3) on March 9 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Six weeks after that, the Florida-based 5-year-old horse traveled to Oaklawn and turned in one of the finest performances of his career in the $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2).

In a solid field of 11, Skippylongstocking was confidently ridden by Jose Ortiz. Always in good position, he stalked the long shot early leader before striking the lead on the far turn of the nine-furlong affair.

The highly regarded Highland Falls gave chase as the two left the rest well behind. The winner’s burst early in the stretch was decisive, however, and the runner-up could do no better than getting within two lengths at the wire.

Other highlights from Skippylongstocking’s racing career include a front-running, romping victory in the $1 million Charles Town Classic (G2) going 1 1/8 miles last summer and a third-place effort in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile Nov. 4 at Santa Anita. The latter came behind the formidable duo of Cody’s Wish and National Treasure.

Those two performances to close out his 4-year-old season demonstrated that the $37,000 Daniel Alonso purchase at the 2021 Ocala Breeders’ spring sale of 2-year-olds in training is still improving as he matures. A big 5-year-old season was expected for Skippylongstocking.

Those high hopes came crashing down when he was pulled up in January’s Pegasus World Cup (G1) and walked onto an equine ambulance. While National Treasure and Señor Buscador raced into the lead of the older male dirt division after the $3 million race, the future of the third choice was in worrisome jeopardy.

Thankfully, it was only the warm Florida weather that got to him that afternoon, and Skippylongstocking received a clean bill of health shortly after the race. Back to his winning ways in his next start, things are once again looking up for the hard-hitting bay.

For all his accomplishments so far in his career, the bargain purchase is an easy horse to like. Out of the War Chant mare Twinkling, he has proven to be durable and talented while winning 8 of 23 in a career that began in a maiden special weight three years ago at Gulfstream Park.

That initial Grade 1 victory is something I would really like to see him get.

He has had six chances at the elusive level already, with the third in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and a third behind Mo Donegal and Nest in the 2022 Belmont Stakes being the best of the bunch.

Perhaps a victory against racing’s elite will remain just out of his reach. Or perhaps, doing well and ready for a big test next week in the Stephen Foster, Skippylongstocking is finally ready to break through and win a big one. I will be rooting for the latter.