Sky Kingdom Wins Second Tokyo City Cup

Westrock Stables' Sky Kingdom continued to show his affinity for the 1 1/2-mile distance March 28 with an impressive victory in the $100,000 Tokyo City Cup Stakes (gr. III) at Santa Anita Park .



The 6-year-old horse by Empire Maker stalked the early pace and surged into the final turn to win by 5 3/4 lengths over 12-1 longshot Bailoutbobby, who closed from sixth place but never made up substantial ground on the winner in the stretch.



It was a repeat performance of the 2013 edition of the Tokyo City Cup, when the Bob Baffert trainee took a similar path with jockey Martin Garcia. Garcia was back in the irons Saturday, after Sky Kingdom had unsuccessful runs in the Las Vegas Marathon (gr. II) Oct. 31 and Awesome Again (gr. I) Sept. 27 with Victor Espinoza. He also has two second-place finishes in Del Mar's Cougar II Handicap (gr. II) at the same distance.



"He hadn't run since the (Las Vegas Marathon), but it was a ridiculous pace that day," said Jim Barnes, Baffert's assistant trainer. "This horse runs well fresh and this was a good spot for him. They had sensible fractions and that was good."



Off at odds of 5-2, Sky Kingdom sat just off the pace of early leader Arlington House, who set fractions of :24.15, :48.56, and 1:13.28 through six furlongs before fading badly in the final turn. Garcia guided the Kentucky-bred alongside the pacesetter on the second trip through the backstretch, took command a half mile out, and kicked clear during on the final turn.



"He loves this track and he loves this distance," Garcia said. "The farther the better for him. He has a long stride and these longer races just make him happy."



Heavily favored Bronzo, off at 3-5, never improved from third throughout the race under Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens and crossed the wire in the same position, 4 1/2 lengths behind Bailoutbobby.



"They went really slow early," Stevens said. "Maybe I should have let him dance away from there for the first quarter mile. He went to sleep on me and I couldn't wake him up."



Sky Kingdom paid $7.60, $4.80, and $2.60. Bailoutbobby delivered $7.40 and $2.80, while Bronzo returned $2.10 to show.



Bred by Jim FitzGerald out of Kingmambo mare Sky Beam, Sky Kingdom improved his lifetime record to 6-2-2 from 19 starts and increased his earnings to $472,122 with his second graded stakes win for his Hall of Fame conditioner.

Decisive Edgefinished fourth, followed by Arlington House, and Helm to complete the order of finish. Rousing Sermon and Image of Joplin were scratches earlier in the week.