Skye Diamonds Seeks Great Lady M Repeat

All year long, the connections of Skye Diamonds have been confident.

The daughter of First Dude  they claimed and turned into a multiple graded stakes winner has been training the way she always has. But, unlike her breakout season in 2017, the same horse hasn't shown up during races.

Other than a sixth-place run in the Humana Distaff Stakes (G1) over a wet-fast (sealed) track at Churchill Downs May 5, the results haven't been poor for the California-bred 5-year-old, but there just hasn't been that "oomph."

"She's had excuses in each one of them, but you start to wonder," said trainer Bill Spawr. "You can only give them so many excuses. Last time, she didn't handle a muddy track. We know that."

So a return to the location of her first graded score will be a litmus test. A year ago, she bested the likes of grade 1 winner Constellation and champion Finest City in the $200,000 Great Lady M Stakes (G2), and she'll look to defend her title in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint July 7 at Los Alamitos Race Course.

BALAN: Former Claimer Skye Diamonds Wins Great Lady M.

"We'll get a really good line on where we're at," said Jon Lindo, who owns Skye Diamonds in partnership with Allen Racing, Bloom Racing Stables, and Tom Acker. "She likes the racetrack, and we'll get a fast track, obviously. I'm as interested as everyone else to see where we are. I just know when she's right, she's going to lay her body down.

"For her more than me, I want to see her run a good race. I just like to see her try so hard."

After her Great Lady M score last season, Skye Diamonds won the Rancho Bernardo Handicap (G3) at Del Mar, then came in fourth in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1). Her 2018 starts ahead of the Humana Distaff were a pair of third-place runs in the Las Flores Stakes (G3) and Santa Monica Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park.

In the Santa Monica, Skye Diamonds was beaten 1 1/4 lengths for second by the up-and-coming Marley's Freedom, and they'll encounter each other again in the Great Lady M as the clear betting favorites (Skye Diamonds is 7-5 on the morning line, and Marley's Freedom is favored at 4-5).

Marley's Freedom, however, enters the Great Lady M with a bolstered résumé. Cicero Farms' 4-year-old Blame  filly won her final start for trainer Bob Hess Jr.—an April 20 optional-claiming allowance—then moved to the barn of trainer Bob Baffert and ran the best race of her 10-race career, a 7 1/4-length romp in the May 27 Desert Stormer Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita.

BALAN: Marley's Freedom Dominant in Desert Stormer Victory

"When I got her she was on her way up, so I can't take a whole lot of credit for that," Baffert said. "She's been training well, but these fillies—especially sprinters, because they run so hard—it's hard to keep them steady. But she still has speed."

The rest of the short field is a group of allowance winners. Phantom Proton and Best of Me scored optional-claiming allowance wins last time out, and Turkish Tabby will seek to end an extended winless streak with a first victory on dirt. She last won in an optional-claiming allowance in December 2016 at Golden Gate Fields.

Entries: Great Lady M S. (G2)

LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, Saturday, July 07, 2018, Race 8

• Grade II
• 6 1/2f
• Dirt
• $200,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 4:28 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Phantom Proton (PA)	Rafael Bejarano	119	Neil D. Drysdale	6/1
2	2Skye Diamonds (CA)	Tiago Josue Pereira	119	William Spawr	7/5
3	3Turkish Tabby (KY)	Tyler Conner	119	Jerry Hollendorfer	10/1
4	4Marley's Freedom (KY)	Drayden Van Dyke	124	Bob Baffert	4/5
5	5Best of Me (KY)	Martin A. Pedroza	114	Peter Miller	15/1