It's never just one factor that brings two champions together for an electrifying showdown.
Yet In regards to the April 17 showstopper in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at Oaklawn Park, trainer Ken McPeek can list a staggering number of reasons for why he opted to send Swiss Skydiver to Arkansas to face Monomoy Girl in a blockbuster battle between reigning Eclipse Award winners.
Each of them with a dollar sign attached to it.
"Oh, you could say there's a million reasons why we're running Swiss Skydiver," McPeek said.
The "million" is a tip of the hat to Oaklawn Park which is putting up a $1 million purse for Saturday's 1 1/16-mile handicap test for older fillies and mares that attracted the division's top stars who are ranked among the nation's top four runners.
"It's going to be interesting. I don't know what else you can say. I know a lot of people are excited about it. I know we are," McPeek said. "We're coming with a beast."
For Monomoy Girl, the champion older dirt female in 2020 and the Eclipse Award-winning 3-year-old filly in 2018, the Apple Blossom had always been the second stop on her 2021 schedule following the Feb. 28 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn—which she won for her 14th victory in an illustrious 16-start career.
Peter Callahan's Swiss Skydiver, the 2020 Preakness Stakes (G1) winner and champion 3-year-old filly, started the year in the March 13 Beholder Mile Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park, with the April 30 La Troienne Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs a possibility for her next start. But after the daughter of Daredevil recorded a scintillating 2 3/4-length victory in the Beholder, it became clear to McPeek that Round 2 with Monomoy Girl was the way to go—especially with $1 million on the line in a small, six-horse field.
"To be the champion, at some point you have to beat the champion, don't you?" McPeek said. "And this seems like as good a time as any to try it. The timing was good. It's five weeks between races, and Swiss Skydiver is doing really good."
The first meeting between the two stars took place Nov. 7 in the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), Swiss Skydiver's first start since her decision by a neck in the Preakness over Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) winner and future Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) victor and Horse of the Year Authentic . A stumbling start left her eighth in the early stages and she never entered serious contention while finishing seventh as Monomoy Girl cruised to a second triumph in the Distaff for trainer Brad Cox.
"We've seen it once before," Cox said about the glittering matchup. "They did run against each other in the Breeders' Cup, but this is a true grade 1 and it will be a very competitive race. It's what you want to see for a million dollars. I'm looking forward to the challenge."
While the Distaff was the 10th start in her demanding 3-year-old campaign that saw the $35,000 purchase from the Select Sales consignment at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale run at nine different racetracks (including Oaklawn), Swiss Skydiver is heading into Saturday's battle fresh, with just one eye-opening race in the past five months. In the Beholder, she was fourth after the opening quarter-mile then took charge in the stretch and drew off with ease under jockey Robby Albarado to notch her first win against older fillies and mares.
"The Beholder was a very impressive performance. It was her first race back from four months off and people thought it was ambitious," McPeek said about the $2 million earner bred by WinStar Farm. "But she's bigger and stronger now. She got a couple of months break after the fall campaign, and she's gone from a big girl to a big woman."
Swiss Skydiver will be facing a tall challenge in the 6-year-old Monomoy Girl, whose lone loss in her last 12 starts came through a disqualification from first to second in the Cotillion Stakes (G1). Only one of those wins was by a margin of less than a length.
In the Bayakoa, her first start at Oaklawn, the daughter of Tapizar won by two lengths over a sloppy track.
"The way she's training, I think we'll get a really good run out of Monomoy Girl," said Cox, who will also send out Getridofwhatailesu in the Apple Blossom. "I think she'll move forward off the Bayakoa. I don't think that was her favorite track."
The earner of $4.5 million was purchased for $100,000 from the Gainesway consignment at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and raced for Sol Kumin's Monomoy Stables, Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, and Bethlehem Stables. Following her second Distaff win in 2020, she was sold for $9.5 million out of the ELiTE consignment at The November Sale, Fasig-Tipton's premier breeding stock sale in Lexington, to Spendthrift Farm, which added MyRacehorse and Kumin's Madaket Stables to the ownership group for this year's campaign.
Monomoy Girl, the 124-pound highweight who will be ridden by Florent Geroux, drew post 6, while Swiss Skydiver (122 pounds) landed post 2.
"The outside post is fine," Cox said. "She seems to run on the outside most of the time."
The main threat from the other four starters should be St. George Stable's Letruska (118 pounds), a multiple grade 3-winning Super Saver mare who was second in the Azeri Stakes (G2) for trainer Fausto Gutierrez and was a multiple grade 1 winner in Mexico.
Oaklawn Park, Saturday, April 17, 2021, Race 11Entries: Apple Blossom H. (G1)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Another Broad (MD) Ricardo Santana, Jr. 115 Steven M. Asmussen 10/1 2 2Swiss Skydiver (KY) Robby Albarado 122 Kenneth G. McPeek 2/1 3 3Letruska (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Fausto Gutierrez 4/1 4 4Chance to Shine (KY) Ken S. Tohill 114 Chris A. Hartman 20/1 5 5Getridofwhatailesu (KY) Francisco Arrieta 117 Brad H. Cox 6/1 6 6Monomoy Girl (KY) Florent Geroux 124 Brad H. Cox 1/1
