The Skipat Stakes
$125.000 For Fillies And Mares Three Years Old And Upward
6 Furlongs – Dirt
Laurel Park – May 16,2026

Saturday will mark the twelfth running of the HRP Skipat Stakes. Like all the stakes races on the Preakness card it will be the first time it is run at Laurel Park. Distance and surface remain the same and it is odds-on that the track will be fast under sunny skies. Seven female equine types have answered the call to battle and all will carry equal weight of 124 pounds. 

1. My Pretty (Threshold/B. Curtis) She has earned almost $700.000 in her career. She is a multiple stakes winner including the G2 Bloom Handicap in 2024. Despite no stakes win since that year she has been winning races in allowance company and turned in a sharp effort last time out when she finished second in the Queen Stakes. 

2. Kill The Lycan (D J C Racing Stables/J.R. Velasquez) The six year old mare was claimed for $20.000 in February and has made one start for her new barn. In that start she won by an impressive widening four lengths when she splashed home in an overnight at Sam Houston. That race was at a route and she cuts back to six furlongs to make her stakes debut in her seventeenth start. She has three wins in a row now and two of those were sprinting so she is versatile that way. 

3. Daisen (London Racing/L. Saez) She is a nose away from being a graded stakes winner having just missed in the G3 ONT Fashion Stakes at Woodbine last October. She has made two starts so far this year in overnights where she ran third on a fast track and fifth when the track came up good. She was a length off the winner in both cases and the barn steps her back up into stakes company today so she must be showing them signs of her best form from last year. 

4. Call Me A Lady (Greyhound/Je Toledo) She is a stakes winner by virtue of her win in the WV-bred Casey Memorial Stakes in 2024. She was purchased for $150.000 the following year and she disappointed by finishing off the board in five straight starts for the new barn. She has come to life since though with two straight wins in conditional allowances. She is improving and appears to be in her best form in awhile. 

5. That Life (Our Athletes/F. Geroux) Five year old mare has won five of her thirteen races and has been in the top three in ten of those. She has won all of her allowance conditions and now takes the next logical step and makes her stakes debut. Very judiciously handled throughout her career and seems sharp and ready for her acid test. 

6. Win For Rene (Avenue Z/M. Franco) She was claimed just about a year ago for $15.000 and has run well since then in allowance company and smaller stakes races finishing second in the Bold Ego at Sunland Park in January. She finished second in an open allowance sprinting at Churchill Downs after failing at a route attempt. She needs to step up against stakes company to show she belongs. Full disclosure: this entry will represent this writer’s barn on Saturday.

7. Tinajo (In2thesunset/S. Elliott) Tinajo made her stakes debut in her last race which was the twenty-ninth start of her career. It was a smaller stake but she fared very well and finished second in the Owens Distaff Stakes. She has proven she is a competitor having won nine of her races. That may have been in lesser competition but you still like to see that will to win and she is another taking a step up and looking to prove herself. 

This seems to be an evenly matched field overall and the race provides an opportunity for these seven fillies to announce their presence in the female sprint division. My Pretty is the most accomplished mare in the field and she will be the pick until someone in the field adds to their resume. Round out the top four with some others showing good form: That Life, Call Me A Lady, Win For Rene.

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded