Skylander Girl, reunited with rider Emile Ramsammy, turned the tables on rival Unspurned to capture Saturday’s $173,400 Grade 3 Hendrie Stakes, at Woodbine.
Owned and trained by Alexander Patykewich, Skylander Girl arrived at the 6 1/2-furlong ‘Poly’ sprint from a narrow length loss to Unspurned in the Grade 3 Whimsical Stakes on April 18. Ramsammy, the regular rider for the dark bay Stroll filly last season at Woodbine, took over from Luis Contreras who had ridden Skylander Girl through a trio of winter starts at Gulfstream Park.
Unspurned, with Alan Garcia up, demonstrated quick early foot from the gate but was quickly overtaken by Skylander Girl who marked the opening quarter in :22.85. Skylander Girl widened through the turn, opening up by 4 1/2-lengths at the top of the lane and coasted home a 3 1/2-length winner under light handling.
Miss Mischief rallied gamely to win a place battle over Unspurned. Skylander Girl covered 6 1/2-furlongs in 1:15.12.
Ramsammy noted his confident handling of Skylander Girl was due, in part, to the confidence placed in him by Patykewich.
“I must commend Alex. He let me ride his filly as the race comes up,” said Ramsammy. “We discussed that being on the lead might be the best thing. We had a good post on the outside and I told Alex I was going to come out racing and if we find ourselves on the lead, I’ll ride her on the lead. She really enjoys running up front, that’s her game.”
Skylander Girl notched a :45 flat half-mile and hit the three-quarter mark in 1:08.71, but it failed to take any energy out of the filly down the lane.
“She was just running on cruise control. She’s a good filly and the best horse in the race today,” said Ramsammy, who was winning his first added-money event since guiding Atlantic Hurricane to victory in the Grade 3 Bessarabian Stakes on November 20, 2011.
Skylander Girl, bred in Ontario by Auchamore Stud, banked $108,000 in victory while improving her record to 4-7-2 from 22 career starts.
She paid $8.10, $5.50 and $2.70, combining with Miss Mischief ($14, $4.20) for a $120.70 (6-3) exactor. A 6-3-4 triactor (Unspurned, $2.20 to show) was worth $245.50.
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