Sky Promise Closes Late to Win British Columbia Derby

Trainer Robertino Diodoro completed the Canadian Derby (G3)-British Columbia Derby (G3) double for the second straight season when Sky Promise won the Hastings Park feature Sept. 8.

A year after Diodoro won both races with Chief Know It All, who is owned by a similar ownership group as Sky Promise, this season it was the 3-year-old Sky Mesa  colt who clinched the double with a fast-closing drive in the final stages of the 1 1/8-mile test.

About four lengths off the leaders early in the three-turn dirt race, Sky Promise still had 2 1/2 lengths to make up on Weekend Wizard with a furlong to run, but surged with a flourish on the inside and finished three-quarters of a length ahead at the wire, with a final time of 1:51.71.

Weekend Wizard appeared to have the British Columbia Derby locked up, as he exited the third turn well clear of pacesetter Canadian Game. Canadian Game, who held for third place, set fractions of :23.64, :48.98, and 1:14.06 through six furlongs, with pressure applied from the outside by Weekend Wizard, who took over to run a mile in 1:37.94.

Jockey Rico Walcott may have lost his whip in mid-stretch, but there was no holding off Sky Promise.

"Going into the far turn, halfway around the turn, when (Weekend Wizard) kicked clear, I thought we were in trouble," Diodoro said. "But he fired down the lane. Last hundred yards I thought we might get nailed, but he closed fast and ran a big race."

It was the third straight victory for Sky Promise, who is owned by Rick Wiest, Clayton Wiest, R 6 Stable, and Norman Tremblay. After Diodoro claimed him for $40,000 out of a June 30 race at Churchill Downs, Sky Promise also won the Aug. 6 Manitoba Derby at Assiniboia Downs before his victory in the Aug. 25 Canadian Derby at Northlands Park.

Bred in Kentucky by Normandy Farm, out of the Dehere mare Maddie's Promise, Sky Promise now has a 4-3-3 record from 18 starts and $284,439 in earnings.