Practical Joke

Skelly Wins Fifth Straight in Speightstown Sprint

It was a fifth straight victory and third straight at the stakes level for Skelly (4g Practical Joke x Adande, by Bwana Charlie) on Monday with a win in the Speightstown Sprint Stakes.

The Red Lane Thoroughbreds representative wasn’t the first out of the gate in the six furlong race but he quickly took over the lead and set the pace while rated by Ricardo Santana Jr. Showing why he was the race favorite, he handled the pressure around the far turn well and easily pulled away.

The 1 ½ length margin he had at the line was deceivingly small with Santana Jr. never asking him to put his full talent on display at Lone Star Park. The Grade III wining Skelly is now the winner of six of 10 starts with three seconds place finishes as well for $701,613 in earnings.

A $250,000 yearling purchase by his racing owners, Skelly was bred by H. Allen Poindexter out of a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Isotherm and the Grade I placed duo of Giant Game and Gio Game.

It was a big weekend around the world for Practical Joke, who also had a Group II trifecta in Chile on Saturday. He is the sire of 24 stakes winners around the world with 16 of those being at the graded level, led by six Grade I winners.