Seemingly relishing a return to the Aqueduct turf, the site of her maiden win 11 months ago, Skims snapped a five-race losing skid and earned her first stakes win in Saturday’s $200,000 Sands Point S. (G2) for three-year-old fillies.
Seizing the lead around the final turn under John Velazquez, Skims kept to her task down the stretch while safely fending off a bid from Vergara to win the nine-furlong test by one length.
A homebred racing for Andrew Rosen and trained by Shug McGaughey, Skims finished up in 1:51.14 over the good inner turf and paid $11.20. Vergara finished 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Eminent Victor, who was followed by 19-10 favorite Pizza Bianca. Spirit and Glory, Canisy, Hail To, and Lady Baffled completed the order of finish.
After breaking her maiden last November and following up with an allowance win over the turf at Tampa Bay Downs, Skims placed in both the Appalachian (G3) and Wonder Again (G2) before going unplaced in her next two starts. She entered the Sands Point off a head loss to Vergara in the Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs.
“She had really trained well since her last race,” McGaughey said. “We were kind of in between this one and the [Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup] at Keeneland. Andrew thought this race might be the right spot and when he said that I felt the same way. We figured it could come up a little more to our liking and all she had to do was ship down the road.”
McGaughey said Skims could be pointed toward the American Oaks (G1) at Santa Anita in late December, or sent to Florida for a rest. Her record now stands at 9-3-1-2, $281,485.
An English-bred by Frankel and out of Royal Decree, by Street Cry, Skims is a half-sister to Group 2 winner War Decree. Her second dam was the multiple Grade 1-winning Ticker Tape, herself a half-sister to Group 1 winner Brando.
