Quick-Breaking Skelly Too Fast for Count Fleet Rivals

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen has showcased some quick sprinters through the years in the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) at Oaklawn Park, among them champions Mitole   and Jackie's Warrior  .

Another speedster can now be added to the list. On April 15 at the Hot Springs, Ark., oval, North America's all-time winningest trainer scored a record-extending fifth Count Fleet victory when Skelly  scampered to a front-running 2 1/4-length win over Strobe . Red Lane Thoroughbreds' Skelly also provided Asmussen with his 100th overall stakes victory at Oaklawn.

"Very proud of it," the trainer said. "Oaklawn has been incredible to us and I thought Skelly and Ricardo did a great job today, and being fortunate to win the Count Fleet for the fifth time is a very good feeling."

Though the six-furlong race appeared fairly competitive on the odds board, Skelly quickly turned Saturday's contest into a one-horse race. Breaking alertly under Ricardo Santana Jr., the 4-year-old Practical Joke   gelding blazed to the front with an opening quarter-mile in :21.44 and he continued to run quickly through the half-mile in :44.46.

Though others were making a bid at this stage such as Strobe with a wide move after stalking the pace, and favored Tejano Twist from the back of the back, neither could threaten the leader. Skelly was never challenged to the wire, completing six furlongs in 1:09.20. He paid $14 to win.

"Ricardo got him away from there well and he was in control of the race," Asmussen said. "A group of very fast horses, but when they hit the ground like that, I'm glad he went on with him."

Tejano Twist, off at 9-5 odds, rallied from eighth to be third, a length behind the runner-up. 

Even with five wins in the Count Fleet, Asmussen has one less victory than Santana, who notched his sixth win in the race Saturday, with four of those wins coming on Asmussen trainees, most recently on Mitole in 2019. His other two wins came on the Ron Moquett-trained Whitmore , who won the Count Fleet in 2017-18 and later became an Eclipse Award-winning male sprinter, as well.

Skelly, bred by H. Allen Poindexter in Kentucky, is one of just two foals produced out of the unraced Bwana Charlie  mare Adande and her lone winner. The other, Street Nonsense  (Street Sense  ), was off the board in four starts and is now a broodmare.

Skelly was a $250,000 purchase by Frank Alosa, agent for Red Lane Thoroughbreds, from the Wynnstay Sales consignment to the Fasig Tipton's Selected Yearling Showcase. The next March, he went unsold at Fasig-Tipton when bidding halted at $350,000 at The Gulfstream Sale when part of the Pick View consignment.

Skelly, a 4-year-old Practical Joke gelding, won for third straight time and fourth time overall in eight starts, increasing his earnings to $549,400. 

Progeny of Ashford Stud stallion Practical Joke ran 1-3 in the Count Fleet, with Tejano Twist also a 4-year-old gelded son of the sire.