For Randleston Farm’s SPY IN THE SKY (Thunder Gulch), there must be something
about August 27. The five-year-old gelding, sent off at 20-1 odds Thursday
afternoon in the $100,000
New
York Turf Writers Cup (NSA-G1), had been winless in eight starts dating back
to August 27, 2008, when he won going 2 3/8 miles over this very same course in
the Happy Intellectual S. He returned to the winner’s circle Thursday with an
impressive 10 1/4-length romp.
With jockey Liam McVicar guiding the James Day runner, Spy in the Sky closed
the gap leaving the ninth fence to take over coming from the outside in the
stretch and quickly drew off from his rivals, stopping the teletimer over the
firm turf in 4:34.16.
“He’s only a five-year-old and he’s the real deal,” McVicar said. “I’m not
surprised about winning (at such long odds). Last year when he was a
four-year-old, they thought he couldn’t run up here and he won. This season,
he’s just been unlucky. But today (you saw) the horse we have at home and the
horse we expect at the racetrack.
It was the first win of the meet for McVicar and the first Grade 1 victory of
his career. While Day was not present to saddle the horse, fellow trainer Roger
Horgan saddled the horse in his stead and didn’t believe the victory would come
as a surprise.
“I said (to Day), ‘Is there anything I should know?’ He said, ‘You should go
bet on him. He’s doing fantastic,'” Horgan said. “(Liam) rides for Jimmy all of
the time and the only thing I told him was ‘If you’re in touch turning for home,
you have as good of a chance as anyone.’ He rode him perfectly. The horse jumped
beautiful. He won for fun.”
Spy in the Sky, who also owns a runner-up finish in the 2008 Marcellus Frost
Hurdle S., improved his lifetime record over fences Thursday to 13-3-1-1 and
boosted his total earnings to $189,488. He paid $43, $13 and $5.30.
Sermon of Love (Pulpit), the 2-1 second choice in the six-horse field, was
second and Dalucci (Ice) (Daylami [Ire]), who seized the lead on the final run
down the backstretch, held third. Swagger Stick (Cozzene) came next under the
wire and was followed by Mixed Up (Carnivalay) and 9-5 favorite Slip Away (Skip
Away), who led for most of the race before giving way on the turn and left the
course approaching the last fence. Planets Aligned (Gold Fever) was scratched.