In my post about Game Ball, I noted that John Oxley seemed to have a lot of Saint Ballado mares at one point, and his intention seemed to have been to breed them to Sky Mesa. Saint Ballado's statistics as a broodmare sire are actually mixed, from what I have seen, but maybe his numbers were better, or at least less clear, a few years ago. Game Ball is by Sky Mesa out of a Saint Ballado mare. The winner of Sunday's feature at Santa Anita, Starry Skies, is another Sky Mesa out of a Saint Ballado mare (named Cosmah Star).
Oxley raced Cosmah Star and chose the mating that resulted in Starry Skies, but isn't the official breeder of her, because Harris & Valpredo bought Cosmah Star when she was carrying Starry Skies. The price for the 9-year-old Cosmah Star was $22,000. Oxley actually bred Cosmah Star to Monarchos at least a couple of times before he bred her to Sky Mesa, which does undercut my theory that Oxley's Saint Ballado mares were intended for Sky Mesa any more than they were intended for his other stallions (which might just have included Monarchos, I don't know).
We may be hearing from Starry Skies on a more prominent stage, at least in California-bred races. She's won both her starts, both coming in turf sprints at Santa Anita. She was entered in the $200,000 Cal-bred Evening Jewel on the dirt on March 31 but scratched. So there's at least been thought to trying her on the dirt.
Starry Skies' time on Sunday was nothing special, and the caveat is there that it was against Cal-bred competition. She went wide around the turn, though, and was resolute in her close, showing a good turn of foot. She won by a length and a half and could be a nice filly.
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