Sky Mesa’s multiple graded stakes winner Sky Promise made up 15 lengths in the final half-mile to win the inaugural running of the $125,000 Temperence Hill S. Friday at Oaklawn Park.
The 5-year-old has won five stakes in his career, including a pair of Grade 3 scores at three, and is now 7-5-3 in 28 outings and has earned $455,889 for owners Rick West, Clayton Weist, R 6 Stable and Norman Tremblay.
Trying the 1 1/2-mile marathon distance for the first time, Sky Promise was near or at the back of a strung out field for the first mile. Expertly piloted by Orlando Mojica, he weaved his way in and out of horses around the final of three turns and into the stretch to emerge with the lead with a furlong to go. Campaign put in a furious late rally, but Sky Promise held him off to win by a neck on a sloppy racetrack.
“Just everything worked out perfect today,” winning trainer Robertino Diodoro said. “I thought he got a great ride. It was a race on paper that didn’t look like there was going to have any speed, except Remembering Rita. The two horses on the inside out broke him. I think that definitely helped us, for sure.”
Sky Promise was Canada’s 3-year-old male Sovereign Award winner of 2018. Bred by Normandy Farm, he is out of the stakes winner Maddie’s Promise.
Sky Mesa is the sire of the winners of more than 125 black type races and earners of more than $60 million worldwide. He is standing this year at Three Chimneys for $15,000, stands and nurses.
