Mighty Sky

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Shawklit Won
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Mighty Sky

Postby Shawklit Won » Mon May 12, 2014 10:57 pm

A 3 year old colt named Mighty Sky made his debut in a maiden claiming race at Woodbine yesterday, and was claimed for $32,000. Mighty Sky did not do too bad for his first race finishing less than 2 lengths behind the winner. The winning time was 1:24:03 for 7 furlongs.

I thought that Mighty Sky ran a pretty good race, which made me wonder why he was in a claiming race in the first place. It seems like he could win a straight maiden (MSW) race, maybe not the first time out, but at least eventually. He was claimed by trainer Sid C. Attard for the Tucci Stables. Attard apparently knew something about MS or else he was very impressed by his looks and/or pedigree and/or how he carried himself, or something. It looks like a good claim by Attard, judging from how MS raced and the fact that he is still eligible for maiden races. It will be interesting to see what kind of race MS is entered in next and how he does in it.

Mighty Sky's former trainer was Mark Casse, who is a very successful one, and I don't think is the type of guy who would give away good horses. So, I wonder why he would put Mighty Sky in a claiming race in his very first start. There is probably some kind of good reason for it, although trainer Attard apparently did not hesitate to claim MS.

Casse bought MS at a sale for $30,000. for a client, so he made a profit of $2,000. (plus 2nd place money in the race), which doesn't make up for the time and effort put into the colt (MS even shipped down to Florida for the winter and had about 7 public workouts).

Maybe MS is a difficult type of horse, or maybe Casse just didn't see that much of a long range future for him and wants to concentrate on horses that he thinks can go somewhere (like stakes races), and apparently, the owner agreed.
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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby Jane » Mon May 12, 2014 11:43 pm

Looks like another good claim by Sid Attard. I'm sure he will do well with the horse.

Casse has hunderds of horses in training, has a huge van that rotates horses daily from woodbine to his training centre and back again... the owner and breeder of this colt was John Oxley who was also the owner of Sky Mesa. These guys talk in the millions... most likely they were happy to get rid of this horse to make room for something better.

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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby LB » Tue May 13, 2014 6:31 am

Shawklit Won wrote:I thought that Mighty Sky ran a pretty good race, which made me wonder why he was in a claiming race in the first place. It seems like he could win a straight maiden (MSW) race, maybe not the first time out, but at least eventually.


Most likely the reason that Mighty Sky ran what looked like a pretty good race to you is because he was in a claiming race. His trainer had gauged the colt's ability and slotted him well, giving him a good chance to win against his peers. Chances are, in a MSW he would have been outclassed.

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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby DDT » Tue May 13, 2014 8:07 am

Shawkilt Won

Casse also trained the winner of that race, hummmmm? Mighty Sky has several full siblings all bred by John Oxley, the breeder of Mighty Sky, why do you think Casse purchased a horse bred by Oxley, if he did it must have been a buy back. The second dam produced Stalwart, a pretty good runner and not a bad stallion.

DDT

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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby Shawklit Won » Tue May 13, 2014 11:02 am

Good points all around here, but I am still going to keep an eye on Mighty Sky, for awhile anyway. I will be interested in seeing if Mighty Sky's next race is another claimer or a MSW.
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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby Shawklit Won » Tue May 13, 2014 8:26 pm

DDT wrote:Shawkilt Won

Casse also trained the winner of that race, hummmmm? Mighty Sky has several full siblings all bred by John Oxley, the breeder of Mighty Sky, why do you think Casse purchased a horse bred by Oxley, if he did it must have been a buy back. The second dam produced Stalwart, a pretty good runner and not a bad stallion.

DDT





The winner was Conquest Outlaw, also trained by Casse, as you said. It was his 2nd race and he was 15 to 1, whereas Mighty Sky was 7 to 2 and was claimed. Conquest Outlaw wasn't claimed. It looks like Mighty Sky was considered the better horse of the two, at least before the race.

The fact that Mighty Sky's second dam produced Stalwart would be another thing in his favor. I think that his dam line is good.

Anyway, should be interesting to see where he goes from here.
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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby Shawklit Won » Wed May 14, 2014 5:48 pm

DDT wrote:Shawkilt Won

Casse also trained the winner of that race, hummmmm? Mighty Sky has several full siblings all bred by John Oxley, the breeder of Mighty Sky, why do you think Casse purchased a horse bred by Oxley, if he did it must have been a buy back. The second dam produced Stalwart, a pretty good runner and not a bad stallion.

DDT




I noticed that all of Mighty Sky's full brothers were gelded. One of them, Sky Commander, won the Charlie Barley Stakes at Woodbine, but was put into a claiming race sometime later, and was claimed.

Maybe horses from that family have a tendency to be difficult, and Casse, who has many good horses, simply will not put up with that. In all, there are 4 or 5 full brothers to Mighty Sky, as well as some full sisters. MS was the first full brother to not be gelded, but was put into a claiming race in his first start.

The feature race that day was the Vigil Stakes, which was at the same distance (7F) as the maiden claimer that Mighty Sky was in. The Vigil was timed at 1:21:83, a little more than 2 seconds faster than the maiden claimer. So, if my arithmetic is near correct, that would have left MS about 12 or 14 lengths behind the Vigil winner. Of course, the Vigil is a graded stakes race, and Mighty Sky was in a maiden claimer ($32,000), making his first start.
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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby Shawklit Won » Wed May 28, 2014 11:31 am

Mighty Sky is entered in the 3rd race at Woodbine Saturday. It is a $40,000. Maiden Claiming race. So, the connections figure to make a little profit if MS gets claimed again. It will be interesting to see if he does gets claimed again.
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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby Shawklit Won » Sat May 31, 2014 4:17 pm

Another 2nd place today for Mighty Sky, this time as the 4 to 5 favorite. This race was supposed to be with a better class of horses ($40,000. claiming price as opposed to $32,000. in his first race). The horse that won was a first time starter, and looked pretty good. MS beat the 3rd place horse by more than 9 lengths. No claims today.

Maybe a MSW next for Mighty Sky. He was competitive at $32,000. and $40,000. Maybe in a straight maiden race too, but not sure. We will see what he is entered in next. I predict that it will be a maiden race.
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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby Shawklit Won » Sun Jun 01, 2014 2:53 pm

Shawklit Won wrote:Another 2nd place today for Mighty Sky, this time as the 4 to 5 favorite. This race was supposed to be with a better class of horses ($40,000. claiming price as opposed to $32,000. in his first race). The horse that won was a first time starter, and looked pretty good. MS beat the 3rd place horse by more than 9 lengths. No claims today.

Maybe a MSW next for Mighty Sky. He was competitive at $32,000. and $40,000. Maybe in a straight maiden race too, but not sure. We will see what he is entered in next. I predict that it will be a maiden race.




Another thing going for Mighty Sky (and other 3YO maidens) is that many of the best 3 year olds have now graduated from the maiden ranks. So, it should be much easier to win a MSW race now, than a MSW at Gulfstream in January, or at Santa Anita, or any of the major tracks earlier in the year. The new connections of MS may now opt for a MSW race, unless they want to sell Mighty Sky for some reason.,

Another option would be to take MS to a smaller track, like Fort Erie, in order to get an easier field for a maiden race, but I doubt that doing that will be necessary as long as MS stays healthy. Besides, the winning purse would be much smaller at Fort Erie, or Finger Lakes, or any minor track.

So, I think that it might be wise to run Mighty Sky in MSW races at Woodbine, until he wins one. I think he can.
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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby Shawklit Won » Wed Jun 04, 2014 1:56 pm

In his last race, the horse that beat Mighty Sky was a 4 year old gelding named Tap For Ami. Tap For Ami had a couple of advantages over Mighty Sky. The first is that TFA is 4 years old and Mighty Sky is a 3 year old. A good 4 year old will usually beat a good 3 year old, and Tap For Ami looked pretty good to me. I would not be surprised to see TFI in an allowance race next (and win it). I don't think that his handlers knew how good he is.

Tap For Ami is also a gelding, which also must be an advantage. Otherwise I don't think that there would be so many geldings around. I guess that a gelding is usually more focused on his racing than is a colt or horse. Besides, they are not carrying as much weight.
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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby Shawklit Won » Thu Jun 05, 2014 5:45 pm

Shawklit Won wrote:In his last race, the horse that beat Mighty Sky was a 4 year old gelding named Tap For Ami. Tap For Ami had a couple of advantages over Mighty Sky. The first is that TFA is 4 years old and Mighty Sky is a 3 year old. A good 4 year old will usually beat a good 3 year old, and Tap For Ami looked pretty good to me. I would not be surprised to see TFI in an allowance race next (and win it). I don't think that his handlers knew how good he is.

Tap For Ami is also a gelding, which also must be an advantage. Otherwise I don't think that there would be so many geldings around. I guess that a gelding is usually more focused on his racing than is a colt or horse. Besides, they are not carrying as much weight.




Here is another excuse for Mighty Sky not winning his last race. The old dead rail excuse. Maybe MS hit a dead spot on the rail in the stretch where Tap for Ami started to pull away from him. It does seem like the outside horse usually seems to win when two horses are leading side by side in the stretch.

As far as going to another track to run in easier competition in MSW races, I mentioned Fort Erie and Finger Lakes as opposed to Woodbine or any of the major tracks. There are tracks that are in between Fort Erie (or Finger Lakes) and the major tracks like Woodbine or Belmont where the purses are higher than the Fort Erie types of racetracks. How about Delaware Park, or Presque Isle, or Parx (Philadelphia). Those tracks have good purses and the competition in MSW races might not be quite as tough as Woodbine or Belmont or Gulfstream earlier in the year.

I doubt that Mighty Sky's trainer plans to do any shipping with him, so I expect we will be seeing MS race at Woodbine. The good news is that the maiden ranks keep thinning out as the winners of those races move on to race against winners. I hope that we do see Mighty Sky in a MSW race next. I would be interested in seeing how he would do in such a race.
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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby Shawklit Won » Sat Jun 07, 2014 9:05 am

Shawklit Won wrote:
Shawklit Won wrote:In his last race, the horse that beat Mighty Sky was a 4 year old gelding named Tap For Ami. Tap For Ami had a couple of advantages over Mighty Sky. The first is that TFA is 4 years old and Mighty Sky is a 3 year old. A good 4 year old will usually beat a good 3 year old, and Tap For Ami looked pretty good to me. I would not be surprised to see TFI in an allowance race next (and win it). I don't think that his handlers knew how good he is.

Tap For Ami is also a gelding, which also must be an advantage. Otherwise I don't think that there would be so many geldings around. I guess that a gelding is usually more focused on his racing than is a colt or horse. Besides, they are not carrying as much weight.




Here is another excuse for Mighty Sky not winning his last race. The old dead rail excuse. Maybe MS hit a dead spot on the rail in the stretch where Tap for Ami started to pull away from him. It does seem like the outside horse usually seems to win when two horses are leading side by side in the stretch.

As far as going to another track to run in easier competition in MSW races, I mentioned Fort Erie and Finger Lakes as opposed to Woodbine or any of the major tracks. There are tracks that are in between Fort Erie (or Finger Lakes) and the major tracks like Woodbine or Belmont where the purses are higher than the Fort Erie types of racetracks. How about Delaware Park, or Presque Isle, or Parx (Philadelphia). Those tracks have good purses and the competition in MSW races might not be quite as tough as Woodbine or Belmont or Gulfstream earlier in the year.

I doubt that Mighty Sky's trainer plans to do any shipping with him, so I expect we will be seeing MS race at Woodbine. The good news is that the maiden ranks keep thinning out as the winners of those races move on to race against winners. I hope that we do see Mighty Sky in a MSW race next. I would be interested in seeing how he would do in such a race.



Another way to look at it. If not for one horse (Tap for Ami), Mighty Sky could have been considered too good for the class ($40,000. maiden claiming) of horses he was racing against, beating the next best horse by over 9 lengths. So, I think that a MSW race would be the right class of race for Mighty Sky now (the maiden ranks have thinned out some).

Does that mean that MS will win a MSW race if he enters one. No, but he could. On the other hand, he could enter another maiden claiming race and lose, even if he races well. There can always be another horse like Tap for Ami that is much better than the horses that he is racing against.

So, I would put Mighty Sky in a MSW race next. The purses are much higher, and he won't be claimed.
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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby Shawklit Won » Tue Jun 10, 2014 6:28 pm

Some people might take it that I was putting down Fort Erie in above posts. Truth is, I have been at Fort Erie a few time and I like it there. Yes, the purses are low compared to other tracks, but it is really a beautiful track (At least it was. I haven't been there for a long time. I still haven't got a passport to go over the Peace Bridge).

I had a good time when I went there (not saying that I won any money), but as far as Mighty Sky goes, I hope to see him in MSW races at Woodbine (I've been to Woodbine too), At least until he wins one. He looked like a pretty decent horse to me and I think that he can win a MSW race at Woodbine, especially with the winners moving on to racing against other winners.

So, all we can do now is wait and see what happens.
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Re: Mighty Sky

Postby Shawklit Won » Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:56 pm

I think that we have all seen or heard of horses that started out in claiming races and later won stakes races. The most obvious example is John Henry. More recently, there was General Quarters. Not saying here that Mighty sky is as good as those horses or even close, but many that started in maiden claiming races ended up winning allowance races.

It is not only the fact that horses improve with more seasoning, but some are better than the average maiden claimer to start with. I believe that Mighty Sky could be in that group. Maybe he was a little difficult to handle or something, but I don't think that MS was put into a claiming race because he was considered to be a washout as a racehorse.

I suspect that MS is the opposite of a morning glory. For those that may not know, a morning glory is a horse that has great works in the morning, but does not race well in the afternoon. I think that Mighty Sky may be the type of horse that doesn't work so well in the morning, but runs better in the afternoon. Kind of like a "game player" in football that does not look good in practice, but comes through in the game itself. Going by his works and his races so far, I suspect this of Mighty Sky.

In both of his races, Mighty Sky was beaten by one horse that seemed to be better than the class of horses that he was racing again.

OK. I guess that I have pretty much exhausted this subject now. Nothing to do now but wait and see what happens next.
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