Swiss Skydiver Could Join Select Whitney Company

Difficult circumstances may lead to a historic run for Swiss Skydiver  in the $1 million Whitney Stakes (G1) Aug. 7 at Saratoga Race Course.

The reigning 3-year-old champion of her division will look to become the seventh filly to win the Whitney in the 94-year history of the prestigious race and the first since champion Personal Ensign in 1988. Personal Ensign was never defeated in an unforgettable 13-race career.

Trainer Ken McPeek admits he was not so much thinking about Swiss Skydiver's chance to make her indelible mark on the Whitney or the immense challenge of defeating some of the nation's finest older males in a "Win and You're In" qualifier for the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Very simply, the filly has not run since April 17, and she desperately needs a race. 

"With the way the ball has bounced the past month, we really wanted to get her back in the game," McPeek said.

WATCH: Kenny McPeek on Swiss Skydiver

The ball has not bounced Swiss Skydiver's way in a long time. After a dazzling 10-start sophomore campaign in which the $35,000 yearling emerged as the sixth filly to win the Preakness Stakes (G1) and banked more than $1.7 million for owner Peter Callahan, the chestnut daughter of Daredevil   seemingly picked up where she left off in her first start of 2021.

She traveled to the West Coast to win the March 13 Beholder Mile Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park with relative 2 3/4-length ease for her third grade 1 triumph. But in her next start, she took on rising star Letruska  and Monomoy Girl  in yet another grade 1—the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 17 at Oaklawn Park—and proved to be no match. Her connections believe she did not take to the track when she weakened to be third, 6 1/2 lengths behind Letruska. Earlier this year, McPeek also indicated she was recovering from an infection in the lead-up to the race, which may have prevented her best effort.

McPeek and Callahan next targeted the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) June 5 at Belmont Park before a fever forced them to scrap those plans, and the obstacles kept coming.

Swiss Skydiver shipped to Saratoga to take aim at the July 25 Shuvee Stakes (G3) only to have a horse in her barn, one not trained by McPeek, diagnosed with EHV-1, or commonly known as the equine herpesvirus. She and the other horses in the barn were placed under quarantine. So much for the Shuvee.

And that is how Swiss Skydiver suddenly joined 6-5 Knicks Go , 8-5 Maxfield , 4-1 Silver State , and 10-1 By My Standards  in a small but ultra-talented Whitney field. She will break from post 3. She is listed at 6-1, the second-longest odds in the morning line, and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.

The star quality of the males his filly will encounter does not deter McPeek.

"Honestly, I really haven't put much thought into filly or colt. She's doing well, and it's really the only race she's eligible for," he said. "She was unable to run in the Shuvee on the 25th, so we were in the position of, where do we run her? Certainly, in a five-horse field for a million dollars on a racetrack she's won over, and she's doing well and she's here, we'll see what happens. We've always been game."

Swiss Skydiver secured her first grade 1 victory at Saratoga with a comfortable 3 1/2-length victory for jockey Tyler Gaffalione in the Alabama Stakes (G1) last August. In the start before that in a schedule turned upside-down by the pandemic, she had been beaten by the same margin when she tested males for the first time and placed second to Art Collector  in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) at Keeneland in July with Mike Smith aboard.

Swiss Skydiver journeyed to nine different tracks last season. She won half of her 10 starts with two runner-up finishes and one third. For many observers, she provided the most memorable moment of a largely forgettable 2020 when jockey Robby Albarado launched a bold move up the rail that greatly contributed to a taut victory by a neck against eventual Horse of the Year Authentic   in the Preakness. She went on to close an otherwise brilliant campaign with a thud when she stumbled at the start of the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) at Keeneland and finished a punchless seventh.

Ortiz will become the seventh different rider to be given a leg up when Swiss Skydiver turns the Whitney into her 15th lifetime start.

"He was open in the race and he's, obviously, a top rider here in New York," McPeek said. "We've had some other people here who've done a good job on her, but she's never needed a regular jockey or her racetrack. You can take her about anywhere or ride her with anybody."

Swiss Skydiver tuned up for the Whitney by covering five furlongs in 1:01.21 on Aug. 1 at Saratoga, seventh among 31 horses that worked the distance that morning.

"She's moving as well as she ever has," McPeek said. "When we worked her in company, she's been devastating to the other company. That's what she's going to have to do Saturday."