Up With the Birds at Home in Sky Classic

Canadian Horse of the Year Up With the Birds aims to build on the momentum of a grade II victory last month, his first since 2014, when he contests the $200,000 Sky Classic Stakes (Can-IIT) at Woodbine Aug. 21.

The 6-year-old Sam-Son Farm homebred son of Stormy Atlantic  —Song of the Lark, by Seeking the Gold, will face seven challengers in the 1 1/4-mile race. He struggled last year to find the winner's circle, having to settle for a second and two thirds in graded stakes. His best performance was a second-place finish in the grade I Pattison Canadian International Stakes.

In June Up With the Birds was moved from trainer Graham Motion and returned to the barn of Malcolm Pierce, who trained the colt to four wins and two seconds from six starts—all in stakes—in 2013. The horse's performances that year earned him Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old honors.

Pierce had an ideal first start back with Up With the Birds, with a 1 1/4-length victory in the the nine-furlong Nijinsky Stakes (Can-IIT) July 24. His last victory before that came in the 2014 Nijinsky.

BALAN: Up With the Birds Back Winning at Woodbine

"It's great to have him home," Pierce said after the Nijinsky win. "He's in great shape. He just loves this course, with the long stretch. It suits his style of running. I'm thrilled."

Up With the Birds will carry 123 pounds and will be ridden by Eurico Da Silva, who was also aboard in the Nijinsky.

Key challengers in the race include multiple graded stakes winner Are You Kidding Me, a 6-year-old son of Runaway and Hide—Sweet Awakening, by Street Cry, who is raced by co-breeders John Bates, Ron Kirk, and Michael Riordan and is trained by Roger Attfield. The owners bred the horse in Kentucky with partners Greg McDonald, Anthony Shaw, and Aaron Sones.

Are You Kidding Me won Woodbine's grade II Eclipse Stakes by two lengths May 28 and most recently finished second in the grade III Seagram Cup Stakes Aug. 1. Both stakes were run on Woodbine's main track, but Are You Kidding Me has a solid turf record of three wins, three seconds, and three thirds from 13 starts. He won last year's Nijinsky Stakes by half-length over Golden Sabre and Za Approval.

Also in the field is Greenwood Lodge Farm's Button Down, a 5-year-old by daughter of Oasis Dream—Modesto, by Sadler's Wells, who finished second in the Nijinsky and is the only female in the field. Button Down was bred in Great Britain by Juddmonte Farm and is trained by Josie Carroll.

The mare has done well since being shipped to the U.S in the fourth quarter of 2014. She won three times and finished second twice in 2015, and ended the year with a win in the grade III Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs. Button Down has a respectable record at Woodbine, where she's won a $58,600 allowance race and placed second three times in stakes, two of them grade II races.