Mission successfully accomplished for Doncaster hope

3 min read
The golden ticket on offer at Randwick was snapped up by Sky Boy (Pendragon {NZ}), whose winning march continued and earned him a free pass to a Group 1 autumn feature

Four-year-old Sky Boy has developed an impressive winning habit this preparation and he extended his sequence to five when he made the step up to black-type company with another sublime effort to add the G2 Fugen Construction Villiers S. to his burgeoning record.

Most importantly to his connections, Sky Boy’s effort guaranteed him a spot in the G1 Doncaster H. in the autumn.

“That was great to watch and gives him free entry.” – Anthony Cummings.

“That was great to watch and gives him free entry,” co-trainer Anthony Cummings said.

“We’ll be making use of that and it gives us a free hand in his preparation towards it and that’s a godsend for a trainer.”

While Sky Boy is on a winning streak to be proud of, Cummings doesn’t expect it to last forever.

“He’s not going to set any Winx records at all, he might find her backside,” he said.

Part-owned by the estate of his late breeder Dato Tan Chin Nam, Sky Boy enjoyed a tidy run close to the pace and took control half-way down the straight.

“It was a very good run and the way he presented today was better than he’s ever been.” - Anthony Cummings.

“It was a very good run and the way he presented today was better than he’s ever been,” Cummings said.

“He’s handled everything in his stride and he’s got the speed to take up a spot and then sprint.”

Anthony and Edward Cummings following Sky Boy's victory in the G2 Villiers S.

Cummings has no doubt that the gelding can go to the next level in the autumn.

“He’s a Group 1 horse and his turn will come.” – Anthony Cummings.

“He’s a Group 1 horse and his turn will come,” he said. “It’s fantastic to see this plan come together.”

Cummings and his son Edward won’t be together to celebrate future successes with the horse as their partnership will be amicably dissolved in January with Sky Boy to fly solo in the New Year.

Jockey Christian Reith has also struck up a special affinity with Sky Boy, having partnered him in his last four victories.

Jockey Christian Reith returns to scale with Sky Boy and Edward Cummings

“He’s gone through the grades and Anthony and Edward make my job easy,” he said.

“All credit to the stable, it’s not easy to go up in trip and then back.” – Christian Reith.

“All credit to the stable, it’s not easy to go up in trip and then back.”

Sky Boy won consecutive races over 2000 metres and kept the run going at Rosehill last month over 1800 metres in his build-up toward the Villiers.

The programming through the grades was a masterstroke from the stable and it got Sky Boy into Saturday’s feature on 53kg, although that forced Reith to follow a stricter regime.

“I had three weeks to get the weight off, but it was well worth the effort,” he said.

Aloisia (NZ) (Azamour {IRE}) returned from the form wilderness to produce a storming late run for second and My Nordic Hero (GB) (Archipenko {GB}) hit the line well for third ahead of Sambro (Fastnet Rock) and Doubt Defying (Not A Single Doubt).