Skippylongstocking stalks, pounces in Oaklawn Handicap

Skippylongstocking stalked the early lead before José Ortiz took him to the lead in the second turn en route to winning Saturday in the Grade 2, $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap.

Owned by Daniel Alonso and trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., Skippylongstocking (5-2) stayed in the two path through the first turn and up the backstretch before he was uncorked by Ortiz, moving into first place wheeling into the lane and winning by two lengths.

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Highland Falls (7-2) finished second, Red Route One (7-2) closed from last to finish third, and Reincarnate (4-1) was fourth in the field of 11 older horses.

The winning time on the fast Oaklawn track that had been muddy early was 1:49.00 after early fractions of 23.21, 47.62, 1:11.99 and 1:36.89.

Skippylongstocking paid $7.60, $4.60 and $3.20; Highland Falls $5.20 and $3.80; and Red Route One $3.00.

The Oaklawn Handicap marked the second consecutive graded-stakes victory for 4-year-old Skippylongstocking. He won last out in the Challenger (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs for the second year in a row.

A 4-year-old colt by Exaggerator, Skippylongstocking ran his record to 23: 8-2-4 and, with the first prize of $637,500, pushed his career earnings to $2,291,685.

The $37,000 purchase at the OBS spring sale in Florida began the year by stopping in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) before a worrisome walk onto an equine ambulance. It turned out he was fatigued from the warm weather that day and was pronounced fine shortly after the race.