Dubai Sky shines in winning Spiral Stakes

Florence, KY (SportsNetwork.com) – Dubai Sky had never raced on anything but turf before sweeping to victory over Turfway Park’s synthetic main track in Saturday’s $550,000 Spiral Stakes.

Trained by Bill Mott, Dubai Sky raced a close-up fourth in this year’s 44th edition of the Spiral with jockey Jose Lezcano in the saddle. The colt, 7-1 in the 11-horse field of 3-year-olds, moved four wide around the final turn and took the lead entering the stretch in the 1 1/8-mile stakes.

Dubai Sky pulled away down the stretch and posted a 2 1/4-length win over 4-1 third pick Conquest Typhoon with 37-1 longshot Firespike right behind in third.

“My horse really took off when I asked him. I thought the outside would be better today,” Lezcano noted after the win.

Completing the order of finish were 70-1 longshot Task Force Glory, 5-2 second pick Royal Son, 9-5 favorite Metaboss, Wireless Future, Another Lemon Drop, Magic of Believing, Big Family and Watchyourownbobber. Imperia, 4-1 in the program, was an early scratch.

The time for the Spiral was 1:50.26.

Dubai Sky, owned by Three Chimneys Farm and Besilu Stables, made it four straight wins and two consecutive stakes victories with the Spiral Stakes. The win was worth $313,500 to bring the colt’s earnings to $439,080 in five career starts. The win was also worth 50 points toward a place in this year’s Kentucky Derby.

Dubai Sky was coming off his winning 2015 debut in Gulfstream Park’s Kitten’s Joy Stakes on the grass in January. After finishing third in his career debut last August at Saratoga, the colt broke his maiden at Belmont Park in September followed two months later with another turf victory.

Dubai Sky paid $16.80, $7.40 and $6.00. Conquest Typhoon returned $5.40 and $3.60, and Firespike paid $11.80 to show.

Categorized in: Horses